(Smut - TO BE CONTINUED) Zoroark the Seductress
by Arthenius
Summary: (Ch. 24, "Delaney Explains Everything" has been released!) A lemony tale of a (Male) OC and (female) pokemorph/Anthros in the ashes of a post apocalyptic world where Pokemon are the only inhabitants. (LOTS OF SEX, smut chapters are marked as smut if you want to skip to the filth.)
1. According to Legend

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **After having gotten disturbingly and disappointingly little, and by that I mean absolutely no, feedback for what the story should be about, I contacted the reader who requested the Zoroark story and asked if she would let me make some changes. She told me to take creative freedom. So this is for Ms. Anonymous.**

 **Note: This is not going to be a oneshot. This came to me during my English class and I intend to write it. I hope you guys enjoy it, not that I would know because you don't tell me anything.**

 **Note: Alternate Universe.**

 _The Great One created the world, and decided that it would be good. He looked upon the world, and he saw that, indeed, it was good. The Great One made living things, things that would crawl and things that would swim; things that would creep and things that would walk; things that would roll and things that would fly, and he saw that they were good._

 _And the Great One watched us; He watched us evolve into a world of harmony, a world of peace; and yea and behold, the Great One saw the passage of time; eras went by, and millennia gave way to millennia; We, the Pokemon, shifting the balance of the world with they, the Humans; and the Great One saw that this was good._

 _The Great One observed from atop his Throne, and he watched in silence without intervention; he watched as the Pokemon evolved, as they grew as a race and as individuals; he watched as the Humans did not. So the Great One called forth his Herald, and he spoke unto him: "Give unto the Humans Knowledge, for they require a method to preserve themselves."_

 _So the Herald came upon the Man, Arthenius, who is forever to be called the Forsaken One, and he was afraid; but the Herald said unto him: "Do not be afraid, my brother; I come bearing gift for your race."_

 _And so Arthenius accepted the Knowledge, and he shared it with his fellow Human. He shared it among his comrades and his enemies, and the Great One was pleased. He watched again, as Humans evolved alongside their Pokemon counterparts, and he saw that it was good._

 _And as the balance shifted as intended, as the pendulum swung back, We watched as the Humans used their Knowledge. We watched them use their gift to create civilizations, we watched as empire gave way to empire; revolution to birth anew, causing cycle after cycle._

 _But, then, We noticed the Knowledge being used for other Purposes; We witness these Purposes in silent awe, and We knew not what to do; these Purposes, the creation of terrible machines and ideas; the so-called "Poke-Balls," and the enslavement that went along with them; We witness the Knowledge used to force Us into the Great Commitment, the bond that was impressed upon Us._

 _And so We prayed to the Great One, using his name that he had taught Us: "O', Great One, O' Arceus our Creator, We commend thee; We have watched Our world that you have given to Us, and We have seen it defiled; We humbly pray to you in hopes that you might help Us; Please extend your hand that We might be free once again."_

 _And so the Great One looked upon the world again, looked upon it with scrutiny; he beheld Humans that captured Us; Beheld terrible machines that forced slavery; Beheld Our artificial creation for sport and for experiments; And the Great One saw that is was not good._

 _So the Great One called upon Ash, whose lineage it is said traces back to the Forsaken One, and he asked of him: "My child, why have you done these things; these horrible things that have caused your brethren such pain?" And Ash replied, "Great One, we have done unto them a favor, for which they are forever indebted; we have given them the opportunity to work with us, to work for us; we have allowed them to exist alongside us."_

 _And the Great One looked upon this Human, and he was enraged; he saw that what he had created was not good, and that he had committed an error; And so he spoke unto him: "You insolent fool, you terribly mistaken creation; You would cast stones upon your brothers? Then I shall cast stones upon you."_

 _And that day was known as the Awakening._

 _That day, the Great One repealed his creation; He took back the Humans that had so tainted his world, and removed them all from the Earth; And it is believed he took them to the Etherealm, where they are believed to preside presently._

Follower Alakazam's Rendition; book 7 of the Great Text.


	2. The Prophecy

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **Just so you know, this is not the format of the entire story. The italics implies that it's background information and exposition; This is likely going to be the last of these before I actually delve into the plot line. It's honestly just really fucking fun to write this shit. Oh yeah, language warning by the way. My fully omniscient 3rd person may include a few choice words.**

 **Also, please don't forget to comment. If I continue to not get comments or PM's, I will stop writing. I feel like I'm typing to a brick wall.**

 **Anyway, here's Chapter Two. Might do shorter chapters and more uploads for this one, idk. Tell me what you'd prefer.**

 _The Earth after the Awakening was in a state of shock; The humans, the only other known life forms on the Earth aside from us, were gone- all of them. These, the humans who we had taught so much; Electricity; Houses; Skyscrapers; Plumbing; Cars, bikes, planes, and other things that go; their creators abandoning them for their own. It is said that the process was instantaneous; First they were there, and then they were gone. Never to be heard from again, even to this, the day of my transcription._

 _In their wake the unruly humans had left an eerie silence, as the world stopped and waited; But there was to be no return. Breath was held until lungs burned and only then did the truth reveal itself to us:_

 _We were alone._

 _Pokeballs released their captives, storage systems were emptied abruptly, and all that had been done to enslave our race was gone. The only remaining mark being what had been built. For a while, the Pokemon remained near the cities that towered around them, still clutching to the possibility of the return. But no such return was to be had. So we spread across the globe, slowly eroding away at the landscape around us the humans had worked so hard to craft, until eventually there was no more evidence of their existence._

 _To the younger spawn, humans have become nothing but a fairy tale; a forgotten race that slowly retrograded into nothingness in our culture. Some who lived through it believe it to have all been false, some who had even been used as a Trainer's Pokemon refuse to believe that it could have been true. Refuse to believe that it happened to begin with._

 _It did._

 _It will happen again._

 _Legend tells of a single human being, a male who would reunite our worlds and bring us back as one again; one who would not persecute us as his brethren had but rather accept us as their equals (for never shall we fall victim to the superiority that had plagued these humans' thoughts, never shall we believe ourselves better); one who would could command us not as a master but as a general might, one who deserves our respect._

 _Years pass, and Emergence is sometimes the topic of discussion; another human who appears with a blinding flash of light; Another human who hears of our prophecies and believes in his haughtiness that he is the paragon of man, that he is this great hero behind whom we might cheer; but after time passes and nothing becomes of their existence they are cast out, sent to live among the hermits and the freaks. Treated as lesser for their failures, sold as trophies or servants. It is not known how many of them live among us._

 _We are all divided over this great debate: Shall the messiah come upon us, shall we wait for the exalted man who humbles himself to the point of mortality? Or shall we fend for ourselves, shall we ignore these Emergences as the pointless coincidences they seem to be? War is waged constantly, though to varying degree, over the matter. Some cultures are civil, others thrown to anarchy and unrest._

 _Either way, we perpetually seek answers._

Aura Master Lucario, Book 4 of the Great Text.


	3. The Fated Emergence

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I'll keep this Author's Note brief, and simplify my thoughts into one questions:**

 **Are you enjoying the excerpts from the Great Text? I genuinely enjoy writing them, and while I'm more than happy to just continue along with the story, I am also willing to continue adding these every few chapters to provide more exposition and information that may help you guys grasp the plot more effectively.**

 **Okay, I lied...One more thing:**

 **You guys may notice that along the procession of the story Zoroark will be the only Pokemon of its gen to appear. This is because I haven't watched or played the series past the white and black franchise, and a lot of those Pokemon are... Well, just plain derpy (Vanilluxe?). So sorry if that offends you guys. I'll try to mix it up some, however.**

 **ONE MORE thing: There is a section in here where our main character renounces his faith. If you find this offensive, I'm sorry. I personally am still a Christian (specifically Moravian), but it doesn't make sense for the main character to be any more. So apologies in advance for blaspheming or whatever the hell its called.**

 **(Forgive me, Father.)**

 **Now here's chapter three.**

 _POI: Ben (Human, male)_

He read again what he had transcribed... And as he anticipated, just as it had all of the occasions leading up to this one, it seemed all the more unreasonable.

 _Excerpt from "The Impeccable Existence"_

 _The entire experience was a disturbingly rattling one. Rattling, and confusing. To comprehend what happened during and after the fact, one must first understand the preliminary events. To anyone with even the slightest rationale, what happened is nothing short of simply unlikely, but it delves deeper than that; implausible, perhaps even impossible? Yet, there isn't any other explanation._

 _The metropolis I had grown up in, the booming urban paragon which I had called home for all these years was the last thing I saw beforehand. I had one hand clutching a leash, which tethered me to the Labrador retriever by the neck; the pet that I had called my own ever since I could remember. My opposite hand, my dominant right, held a smartphone, across which my thumb danced, weaving yet another unnecessarily elegant text message to my mother (she always worried too much: "where are you now, where are you going, who are you with, when will you be home?"), when unbenounced to me, the battery of the device was on its last leg. I hit send to tell her that I was walking the dog to the park, and before I could ever relay that last thought to her, the life of the device inexplicably dropped from five to what had to have been some negative value. My eyes rose to meet Donald Trump's on a campaign advertisement._

 _Never sent... Never communicated to the Saint of a woman who had raised me, who had brought me up to the be the man I would later become. Never to provide some sort of closure to this poor mother of two who would, with supernatural spontaneity, lose her second born child to an unseen force. Never sent... As though that would be enough, it dawns on me. As though it would have been a suitable piece of information to explain to my mother why she would never get to see her baby boy again. As though I didn't have so much to thank her for, so many things I would have said if I had known, if I had gotten the chance. Tears well up in my eyes now, obscuring my vision, so I must expressly apologize for my script in the remainder of my recantation..._

 _As though this ass of a presidential candidate had fired me from life, he was the final thing I saw before the carpet I stood on was pulled from beneath my feet. My closing vision, the final experience of such a beautiful world, and I had to have it be this putrid representation of the otherwise dominantly pleasant world. Maybe it is fitting, however; As I reflect, perhaps this is a symbol, this is the way that they see us..._

 _Immediately after it came. The sole instance in my life that would shape the remainder as long as I am and as long as I will exist. It is without a doubt the most incredible thing that, I believe, anyone could ever experience. My eyes were drawn immediately upward to follow the skyward progress of a large orange ball of light, whose creator was not to be seen. This orb, this massive construct of what I am now drawn to conclude was pure energy, ascended to the point I need to crane my neck just to view it. At its zenith point, however, there was a flash of light as though lightning as struck, and the orange ball gave way to pink... Pink meteors that fell from the skies._

 _I looked around to see how others were reacting. Was this the apocalypse, I asked? The day of the rapture? But no, nobody seemed to be having similar thoughts about this anomaly. In fact, nobody seemed to be having any thoughts about it at all. It was confusing, certainly, to see everyone going about their business in the midst of a colorful meteor shower._

 _I stood where I was in awe, my dog pulling at the leash in my hand, seeing that I had stopped and wanting to continue forward process, but I was immobilized by the sight of everything. My eyes traced on such meteor from its highest point, following it down and along its trajectory... And then it struck one of the skyscrapers a few blocks down._

 _The mere force of the impact unleashed a shockwave on the landscape, as though I was inches from a jet as it broke the sound barrier. I staggered briefly, but regained my balance in order to watch the rest of the terrible spectacle. The tower was collapsing, the giant structure falling in what I perceived as slow motion. More meteors littered the ground around me, felling buildings, striking cars, people... And I was the only one who seemed to notice._

 _Everything else was peripheral, however; my eyes were trained on this skyscraper, this massive, looking figure experiencing both a physical and metaphorical fall from grace. It was falling toward me, falling...on me. On a direct collision course with me. I couldn't run, I couldn't hide; even if my legs worked, I couldn't outrun it. I closed my eyes and prayed for forgiveness to God, Jesus, to anyone who would listen..._

 _And then nothing._

 _The juxtaposition of the chaos and the sudden blankness was nothing short of rattling. I didn't know what was going on any more... Perhaps it was all just a dream... A dream? A vision, a hallucination, a fever dream? An out of body experience, perhaps the result of the unknown ingestion of some hallucinogenic drug?_

 _My body was cold, yet I felt an inexplicable warmth as though I was insulated by heated blankets. I opened my eyes and I could see nothing but white as far as the eye could perceive. They say white is the absence of color, but yet this didn't seem to be a blank space; this seemed to have purpose, to have depth; purity; righteousness._

 _Then, as I was beginning to believe that perhaps I had gone mad, and perhaps these were the padded walls of a psychiatric hospital, I saw it for the first time, and for the only time before as I live and breathe._

 _I looked upon the face of God._

 _I had been a faithful Christian all up until that one fated moment; always attending the church survives on Sundays; reading the Bible; praying at night, and living life in his honor. Those who subscribe to that religion, who I know now are mistaken, are taught that our Creator made man in his image, but as I encountered my maker, I knew that this was a falsified statement. My entire religion was spontaneously disproved, and yea and behold, I knew the truth!_

 _I cannot possible describe what I saw. There are not words in the English language not any other language mankind is familiar with that could possibly deliver the image in my mind; that sight was mine and, to the furthest extent of my knowledge, mine alone. He was nothing like anything I had ever seen before, closer in appearance to an animal than a human. Golden embellishments throughout his body drew my attention._

 _It was instantaneous, knowing him. I had no memory of ever meeting this transcendent being before, never seen pictures, never read stories, never heard his voice. And yet I knew his voice, his face, his presence._

 _"My child," he said unto me, and I knew. I knew in that moment that this was my master, my king, my father, my friend. Never had I heard it before, and yet the sound came out naturally as though I had know him eternally, the word forming as naturally on my lips as they might suckle from my mother's bosom as an infant:_

 _"Arceus"._

 _This was met immediately with a smile, a smile that caused a wave of a supernatural comfort and pleasure to wash over me, a smile that made me feel as though I was finally home. The encounter was brief, and yet I learned so much in those few instances. He spoke unto me again, and even now it evades me- O', how I wish I could remember what he had said unto me- and then I was gone._

 _The next thing that I can recall is opening my eyes, feeling rested; feeling as though I had just woken from a deep sleep. Not a groggy feeling of drowsiness, but rather an unrivaled energy, an internal drive that was foreign to me. I looked around and was greeted by greenery, greenery and nothing more. I lay on my side, and was garbed in a brown robe, as might be worn by a monk. Beside me was a leather bound book in which I now write, and an ink pen with which I now write._

 _Everything, as I reflect, feels different about this place I am in; the colors seem unnaturally vibrant, and I draw a strange sense of... Adventure, perhaps? from the air. I have not looked around, but I've now reached the conclusion that this is nowhere that before I have been. I see no signs of civilization, or any sort of life, anywhere, and I suddenly feel alone._

 _Something is different. Not wrong, but different. I feel as though this day- no, the rest of my life, will never be the same._

 _May my words bring you knowledge and awareness._

 _Ben_

He tucked the book and the pen into the large pocket along the left side of his robe and stood. Inhaling deeply. Pushing aside all anxiety, apprehensions, fear, previous premonitions, precedents for life, he headed forward. Looking for anything that might help him understand what was going on.

And so the Fated Emergence occurred.

 **Okay, I did the whole written recontation thing again. I couldn't help myself. I promise it's going to be normal from here on out.**


	4. First Contact

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **Sorry to leave you guys in silence for so long. I went to party Friday and met some girls Saturday and had a threesome Sunday and I gotta tell you... It's a lot more awkward than the one I'm writing for a surprise story for you guys. Anyway.**

 **There's something important that will need to be addressed. Italics henceforth are going to be what I like to call passive action. Things that are going on that need to be known, but things that don't actually advance the story; kind of like narration, like what would be said in the beginning or end of a Pokemon episode by the announcer person. For example, "Bob is walking" is active and would not need italics. But "Bob's mother watched him walk as she took the pie out of the oven" would need italics, because while relevant it doesn't have anything to do with the present progression. If this confuses you then ignore it, but it isn't permanent so it's not a big deal.**

 **But uh. Here's the next chapter. (See if you know what popular book's opening line I modeled this chapter's off of!)**

 **Sorry in advance for any Pokemon misspellings.**

POV: _Third, fully omniscient_

In a thicket in the woods there walked a man.

The woods were foreign to Benjamin... As he looked around, attempting to suppress his unease, he carried with him a sense of impending danger, danger as though he was walking into a trap, danger as though he was set-up, danger as though- danger as though he was being watched.

 _And watched he was._

 _About ten minutes prior, the area in which he walked was inhabited by dozens of Pokemon, all going about their merry way, oblivious to the historic event that was about to occur, and occur it did. A pillar of light, a symbol of an Emergence struck the ground directly on top of a Sudowoodo. The Sudowoodo used Bide instinctively, and it absorbed so much energy that, much to the horror of the flock of Pidgey and their evolutions who had the unfortunate opportunity to watch, it all too literally melted as though it were an ice cube under flame._

 _Everyone was used to these Emergences; they happened every so often and nothing ever came of them. A column of light, about two feet wide that stretched as far as anyone could see into the sky. The surrounding Pokemon would look up, watch until it slowly faded, and then go about their way. At least that's what would happen here, in the feral regions of the world, the woods where there was no social order, the woods where the Pokemon still believed the humans hadn't left, had no reason to know they had left._

 _But this was different. After the rock type Pokemon was vaporized, the pillar widened. The radius stretching from one foot to two, five, ten... Pokemon backed up from this unusual anomaly that they might avoid a similar fate. But when the pillar did not fade everything stopped. For miles and miles around, everyone watched the light. The horizon of the otherwise bright and sunny day dimmed. The blue of the sky faded, as though it was being bleached of color. Then there were two flashes of light, blinding flashes that threatened the burning of retinas, and then nothing._

 _Nothing except a human male, garbed in a monk's apparel. A male that was instantly avoided. This was a phenomenon that was unheard of. One to be feared, not necessarily as scary of threatening but as one might fear a king or a god. Thus the feelings were transferred to the man who came as a result of it. No one dared move closer, rather everyone moving in the complete opposite direction. Mothers ushered their children onward; birds took flight; fish swam deeper._

 _But there were the brave ones... thrill-seekers and those who wanted to demonstrate their strength and courage. Temporarily struck with fear, but growing more and more curious, more and more extraverted. And so they watched for the time being, watched until they would be willing to intervene._

 _Oblivious ones as well, there were. Those who didn't know what was going on either as a result of being underground, asleep, or perhaps just lacking the mental capacity to process it all. Who had no interest in what was happening, and who had no reason to have any interest._

 _These were the first that Ben saw._

"What the hell..." Ben had developed a frown, and he crouched down, pulling his robe about himself as he did so. His gaze was cast downward at the ground, where there was a large green leaf that must have fallen from one of the trees around him. But it wasn't the leaf that held so much interest for him; it was the creature crawling across it. A lone Caterpie, completely unaware that he was a human, a child of the Emergence.

He studied it for a moment, and the longer he looked the more he understood. He had recognized it on a subconscious level, though he was certain that he had never before seen anything quite like it. Never seen it, and, yet, he knew what it was; he knew it was a Caterpie, and he knew it was a bug. Knew that it held no significant threat to him as it was... Maybe when it grew up a little, he thought to himself, but not now. He didn't know how he knew it, but he did.

He reached down to touch it with a forefinger, but he hesitated as he got closer. Watching it inch its lower body forward, then scoot its upper body along like an inchworm. His head tilting to the side. Then he took a deep breath, and he poked it.

Making contact with Pokemon for the first time, but far from the last.

 **Sorry it's so short, just wanted to get something published this period. I'll try my best to have another chapter out tonight because this one is so short, but I can't promise anything. Sorry also about the italics thing again... Still trying to find a way I feel comfortable writing. Haven't found an identity yet so I'm jumping around, but I'll work on it.**


	5. First Move

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I've been sick. Don't get too stressed out if I don't upload, there will always be a reason for it. Now that I'm better, I'll try to reestablish my regular upload schedule.**

 **I'm hitting you with some more background and deep shit this chapter so be ready for it. Sorry if my definitions aren't entirely what you agree with, as these are my personal derivatives of them.**

 **Viewer discretion is advised.**

 _There are a great number of views of the world, some more objective and others more reliant than others. Everyone's own, personal perception of the world is shaped by such things as social and political context and religion, dominantly. Just as people have confirmed to certain classifications, as have Pokemon, and in the case of the latter it is the pure structure of the civilizations in which they live._

 _Hedonism- A secular and nontranscendent belief system, meaning it does not connote subscription to any religious beliefs. The main view of Hedonism (not to be confused with Heathenism, which is not a self-recognized philosophy but rather a societally appointed one) is simple: "What is good feels good, and what feels good is good." This is typically considered an unevolved standpoint, characterized by a life ruled by carnal desires (eat, survive, reproduce), and is usually regarded as the most sinful of lifestyles. In the human world, with few exceptions, animals are the only followers._

 _Existentialism- Secular and nontranscendent; "Live life for yourself and live it well, because you only get one". This is often incorrectly characterized by the popular phrase "The world is your oyster". Existentialists don't believe one can be whatever one wants to be, but rather regard the world in an objective matter. Rather than trying to be president, and existentialist would see that attempting something so unlikely would result in a waste of time, and life could be better spent doing something they enjoy regardless of what society (or "the machine", as is usually associated with existentialism) would desire. Secular existentialism coupled with religious affiliations is the predominant philosophical view of human society._

 _Nihilism- Not necessarily nontranscendent. "This is all going to be bad". Nihilism is a very negative view of everything, and can be incorporated into most if not all major religions. A nihilist would be plagued by an unending sense of angst, and if they have a view of the afterlife it would be negative; a Christian nihilist, for example, would believe there is no purpose trying to get into heaven because they would more than likely end up in hell anyway. Nihilists in human society are few and far between, but an example would be the "emo" population._

 _Dogmatism- Can be secular, but in most cases is transcendent. Dogmatism (derived from "dogma", a set of rules appointed by a higher but not necessarily divine power) is a philosophy that follows rules which a power they recognize as greater than themself has declared. The dogma followed may be something like a system of legal laws established by the government, or something as profound as Christianity's Ten Commandments. Merely following a religion doesn't make one dogmatic; They would have to do as they are told by the religion rather than solely believing in the higher power. Dogmatists make up a large percentage of the human population._

 _The dominant structural systems of the Pokemon world are hedonism and existentialism, as polar opposites. The Pokemon of existentialist societies live "as humans might", in urban metropolises and with occupations, creating families and friendships. Hedonist societies are usually found in the forest, living more "as nature intended", acting like wild animals as opposed to bioandrics._

 _The latter is where we rejoin our hero, poking a Caterpie._

The strange yet familiar caterpillar-esque creature was unexpectedly squishy, it's body depressed under his finger for a moment, feeling like poking a bag of jelly. The Caterpie immediately acted in response, raising the front of its body off the ground and rotating slightly that it might look directly at Ben, staring for a moment. Ben returned this blank yet intrigued gaze for a moment, noticing he was radially leaning in closer with curiosity.

Then he was hit in the face with String Shot.

From the tiny mouth of the creature that almost went unnoticed came a shockingly wide spray of sticky webbing that felt like spider silk, covering his face and even splashing across the rest of the surface area like a semiliquid. Ben recoiled, crying out in alarm and staggering back, hands raising and finding his face which was completely covered by the thick material. He grabbed at it with both hands but couldn't seem to make any progress with tugging it off. It was as secure to his face as though it was string, tied back behind his head in a knot of unholy proportions.

As the Caterpie went about its merry way, inching forward as though it hadn't just ruined the day of some poor individual, said poor individual was going insane. It was difficult to breathe through the stuff, and feelings of claustrophobia set in within seconds. Sweat came unnaturally quickly to his body, his lungs beginning to expand and contract spasmodically as he begun hyperventilating. He could see, yes, but only through a film which altered the colors of the world around him, granting them an obscuring white hue.

Even as he panicked, his brain shut itself off from the feelings and forced itself into a logical thought process: He needed to get this off of him; he couldn't do it with his hands; would using the robe work?... no, apparently not; heat would be able to melt it off... heat would pose a risk and would be very difficult to find soon; perhaps using water to wash it off... yes, water was is the best idea; find water.

And so, conforming to the wishes of his brain, his body was directed on a graceless and meandering path in pursuit of a body of water, perhaps a river or a lake or a pond. He moved, gradually calming and becoming more and more rational, over a period of about five minutes, maintaining a relatively linear course, until his ears picked up on exactly what he had been searching for: the sound of running water.

He made a mad dash in the direction of the noise, which he then identified as a river, flowing gently and invitingly. He knelt at the bank, leaning over at the waist and sticking his head in. His hands followed after, scrubbing at his face with the help of the solute and after not too long managing to free himself again from the clutches of the sticky substance.

He took his head out of the river and gave a relieved sigh, rubbing his eyes and blinking the water from them and looking around. This area was more sparsely wooded, and the river was flowing only about four or five miles per hour to his right, the body of water itself being about twenty feet across.

As he studied it, an orange and yellow creature leapt from the depths and crossed his field of view. He didn't get a terribly good look at it, but he did see what it was. "Magikarp," he murmured, then developed a frown. "Wait, what? Why did I know that?" He raked a hand through his hair from front to back and watched the water where he had seen it return under the surface and shook his head. "Weird."

As he studied the river, his back to the forest behind him, it slowly came back to life. Previously nervous Pokemon going about their way as though he wasn't there. Except for one. One lone Pokemon that was focused on his presence.

One that was heading directly for his turned back.

 **Yes, the moment you may or may not have been waiting for has arrived: Another character is being introduced. It's not Zoroark, so feel free to guess.**

 **Arthenius**


	6. OUTTA NOWHERE!

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **Let's just jump right into this one. It'll be an interesting change of pace, right?**

 **Viewer discretion is advised.**

 _We rejoin our hero, who had just freed himself from Caterpie's String Shot..._

Staying where he was by the water for a moment, the human male watched as an incredible change occurred in front of him: the forest seemed to have spontaneously sprung to life, as though it had been holding its breath when he arrived and was only now exhaling. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear the healthy and active ecosystem around him.

Across the river, Ben spied a bear wandering back into the treeline absentmindedly. A bear it was, but a bear it was not; even from behind, from the moment he laid eyes on it the first name that came to his mind was not "Grizzly" or "Brown" but rather... "Ursaring". He stared as it disappeared behind the foliage, shaking his head. Then he began thinking in what was a warped sense of logic.

He was recognizing creatures that he was certain that he had never before seen, even by name, and even by first glance. Not only recognizing, but naming, and knowing things about them. But how was this possible...? The only somewhat rational explanation he could conjure was this, the realization he had aloud in a hushed voice: "As I looked upon the face of God, I looked upon all of his creation; I see him in everything, and he gives me knowledge". Ben stared blankly at the spot where the bear-Pokemon had disappeared for another few seconds before he muttered to himself "this is fucking weird..."

He collected his feet under his body and rose slowly to a standing position, smoothing out his robe with both hands. It felt weird to not have anything on but a robe, like he was missing something, but yet still yet feeling something else. "That something else is a draft, you idiot." He laughed to himself. Crazy for talking to himself? Probably getting there.

As he shook his head, his unknown assailant continued to creep up behind him. Two feet padded gently against the earth underneath it. No noise was made as the furry paws made contact with the soft grass. Inaudible repetition of the first syllable of its name accompanied every step it took. It was crouched down low to the ground as though preparing to pounce, as though stalking its prey. Its arms where held in front of its body in what could be perceived as either an offensive or defensive position.

As he stood with his hands on his hips, taking in this new world he was slowly starting to come to terms with, gradually beginning to understand, marginally habituating to this strange new reality, it closed the gap. Breaking out into a run, leaning forward slightly for aerodynamics as well as flare. Short fur was disturbed slightly by the wind created by the speed of the forward progress. Still noiselessly moving along.

Ben pushed his fingers along the front of his hair and turned around, looking to one side. After a second or two, his peripherals notified him of movement, and he developed a sudden sense of impending danger. A blur of yellow and brown was all he saw. That is, until he begun seeing stars.

"Bun!"

With the laconic, monosyllabic battle cry, the little creature leapt into the air, swinging its body in a diagonal motion so as to create a whiplike effect with its ears. The auditory structures above its head proved not to be like anything he had ever before experienced. As the right ear connected with his forehead, it felt as though he had been hit with a jab by... The hulk, probably.

The brute force of the impact caused him to become airborne, his body following his head as he was launched back in the direction of the river he had just begun walking away from. He swore loudly, though the first half of the word came out as more of a choked scream. An explosion of color and light flashed before his eyes, temporarily blinding him until he hit the ground. His jaw fell slightly as he released a pained groan, right hand coming up to his head to very gently touch what he was certain was a six inch deep crater in his fucking skull.

His abdominal muscles contracted to raise his upper half off the ground to look at his attacker, and he felt an equally strong hit to his ego as he saw what just hit him: A tiny little bunny with brown and yellow fur and a cute little puffy tail. And it had just successfully knocked him on his ass in one hit. Fantastic.

In his dazed state it took him a moment to recognize the creature as a Buneary. The rabbit Pokemon bounced from foot to foot like a boxer, one ear coiled up on its head like a spring, the other standing up and folded over slightly at the top. It met eyes with him and slowly ceased moving, frowning and walking closer to him. It spoke its name, and yet when it reached Ben's ears he didn't interpret it as such: "Wait, you aren't a Pokemon..."

 **Not going to say anything. Just comment your thoughts.**

 **Arthenius**


	7. A Bunny City!

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I know, I haven't written in a while. Shit happens, people. I'll try to get back on schedule.**

 **Previously on ZTS:**

 **"** _In his dazed state it took him a moment to recognize the creature as a Buneary. The rabbit Pokemon bounced from foot to foot like a boxer, one ear coiled up on its head like a spring, the other standing up and folded over slightly at the top. It met eyes with him and slowly ceased moving, frowning and walking closer to him. It spoke its name, and yet when it reached Ben's ears he didn't interpret it as such: "Wait, you aren't a Pokemon..."_ **"**

Just as the rabbit Pokemon froze when it got within a few feet of him, as did Ben when he heard it speaking to him. The tone of its voice was one that was strangely familiar, and as it walked closer and began circling him slowly, he started to realize where he had heard it before: talking to animal one doesn't expected to understand due to a language barrier.

"You can talk...?" The question posed was instinctively dribbled from Ben's mouth once the initial shock had begun to palliate, and he now stared with intrigue at the little creature, who recoiled at the sound of its voice. "You can talk?!" The echo sounded, following his words with a similar incredulity.

The Buneary ran around to the front of him to look him over again. Then it began muttering to itself: "Of course it can talk, you stupid... All of them talk, it's the understanding you should be worried about. Get yourself together, why do you always do this..." It trailed off into its self belittlement.

Ben got to his feet and crouched down in front of it, which caused its back and forth march and droning to cease immediately. She looked up at him, an ear twitching and then a paw grabbed him by the hand. "You have to come with me! Now!"

The brown ball of fur took off in the direction of the trees, but was halted as soon as it got far enough away that Ben's arm extended. He had stayed put, which cause the Buneary to be pulled to an abrupt halt. The crown on his face was as eloquent as any speech: "Why?"

Buneary tore her hand away and folded her arms in front of her, staring with an enraged expression at this stupid human who didn't understand how important everything was. "And I'm coming with you, why?" He stood back up, an intended display of dominance over the situation. Demonstrating he had quite a few feet on her in size.

And then, as if preceding sudden reveal of a secret weapon, the Buneary brought a smirk to her lips, angling her head down to hide it, a shadow crossing her face for a moment. Then she picked her head back up and it was gone, and she hopped over to him, standing near one of his legs. There was something detectably different immediately... She clasped her hands together in front of her near her waist, leaning slightly against his leg, looking up at him with what he suddenly believed to be ill-named 'puppy-dog' eyes... Hers were more effective. There was an aura about her that just made her irresistible. "Pwease?" Quieter, slightly higher pitch, pleading. Charm.

Ben's heart melted immediately. "Oh, alright." A smile was on his face. A giggling noise from the Pokemon, who hopped up in a high bounce, directly into Ben's arms, who caught her instinctively. She pointed straight, commanding him forward and toward the trees she was originally leading him toward. He complied, heading that way with a moderate gait.

Once they submerged into the forest, it thickened surprisingly quickly. The canopy above them intertwined with itself, dimming the light, which was bright enough that it had to have been midday. As the two looked around, one had no idea where he was going, but the navigator seemed to understand as if by second nature: it was clear she had been here before.

After a five minute trek, they encountered a group of three Buneary who watched them walk, then looked at each other wordlessly and made their way over. "Lily, why have you brought this heathen here?" Another female. They all looked rather feminine in appearance, so it was of no surprise to Ben. The Buneary in his arms, apparently Lily, replied: "I'll explain later. Just run ahead and tell everyone we're coming."

And they did just that. The Charm having all but worn off, Ben looked down at Lily questionably. "Who exactly is 'everyone'?" Lily looked at him and smiled but didn't reply. Ben got an off feeling from this, but kept to himself. He was lost anyway, and could wander in this forest forever without a guide. He needed her as much as she seemed to need him.

A while longer of wandering provided no help for Ben's sinking feeling he was lost. That is, until Lily piped up from his arms, "wait right here," and then wriggled her way out of his grip and to the ground. There was a stirring from somewhere nearby, and Ben grew uneasy. As if sensing this, the Buneary in front of him told him "don't worry, we'll keep moving in a second. You're alright." Reassuring him as though he was a dog... The condescending tone made him grow irritated. He drew his robe about himself angrily and pointed as if he was going to say "listen here you little shit," and he stopped himself as something dropped from the trees above them, in front of the two.

'Lopunny' was the word that came to mind when he saw the figure. It had torn fur and scars littered its face, along with a caveman-style loincloth of an animal Hyde he couldn't identify. The creature was dirty, but looked instead of disgusting more hardened, as though it was combat-seasoned. In one hand it held a spear carved from what had to be the trees that surrounded them. It was the first strikingly masculine figure it had met. He instantly developed a respect for the individual, who remained with its head bowed and weight lowered like a ninja might prepare to be attacked for a counter.

"Don't move or you will be impaled through the stomach. You will live, but only to be used for experiments. I've always wondered the best way to kill your kind..." Ben sweatdropped, looking with eyes that consumed his entire face toward the hand he had aggressively extended toward the littler of the two other beings. He quickly retracted his arm. "Sorry," was the only thing he managed to get to come from his mouth.

"Oh my Arceus, Dad, don't be so over dramatic." A teenager-esque feign of horror from Lily, accompanied by a sigh. She walked over a few feet and turned to Ben, gesturing to the menacing figure behind her whom she had just identified as her father. "This is Ivan, my dad. He used to be the Chief of our village, but his views of humans and their offspring caused him to become a pariah. He just scares visitors now, but he _claims_ he protects us."

"I do. There hasn't been an invader since I've been on the job." He proudly stood, puffing out his chest and sticking the pointed end of the spear into the ground beside him. Ben nodded, carefully approaching. He was very wary as he held his hand out to Ivan, who gripped it with a surprising firmness. He exuded an aura of power, but the sheer physical strength from the slim looking figure was surprising. "Nice to meet you, Ivan. I'm Ben, and I have no idea why I'm here."

Lily watched the exchange with just short of shock. "Aren't you-" "surprised that we can understand each other? No. One of my Metagross friends told me of the most recent Emergence, and said something was different." He looked at Ben, then released his hand. "I just hope he was right." There was a pause as he looked over the two. Then he gestured with his head behind him. "Go ahead. I'm sure you're being awaited."

And with that, he took off like a shot, up into the trees. Rustling was head for a second and then he was gone. Ben looked to Lily, and Lily smiled awkwardly, sweatdropping and rubbing the back of her head before going where was previously gestured. Ben followed, more confused now than ever.

Once they broke the barrier provided by Ivan, however, the trees began thinning slightly, but the canopy above stayed thick enough to imitate dusk, and Ben saw tents. Lots of tents. As though there was a campers' convention here, but there was no one in any of the tents as far as Ben could tell. Dozens on top of dozens of empty tents. It was almost eerie. One larger tent was in the middle, and it was in this tent there was a source of light, the only one in the area. A shadow could also be seen, a seated figure, waiting.

Lily looked around nervously for a moment and then turned to Ben. "Wait here. No matter what happens, don't come inside. Even if your life depends on it." This was received by a blank stare. "What the actual fuck is going on." Lily returned the blank stare for a second, then disappeared through the flaps of the tent.

Almost immediately, Ben heard whispering. Voices, lots of voices. Too many to be intelligible, but all speaking in hushed tones. Ben did a turn, looking around at the tents anxiously. Then there was a loud noise from the large tent which sounded like a hammer striking an anvil, and Ben whirled around instinctively. He started backing up slowly, watching the flap for something terrifying to come out.

But before the creature form the black lagoon could emerge from the structure, Ben backed up into something soft. Soft, and furry, which gave slightly when his weight was pushed against it. About and inch or two taller than him. He determined just from guessing that this was another Lopunny, based on his one other encounter with one.

He froze when he touched it, but it didn't. It grabbed him by the biceps, holding him at arms' length, which was apparently farther than his own arms could reach. Giving a small squeeze with both hands. A feminine voice, womanly, sounded from it: "Oooo, is this the newest one?" Another female voice: "He's even better than the last one!" One of the first two hands shifted to the same arm as the other hand, another pair of hands grabbing his other arm.

He looked frantically over his shoulder while struggling to break free. He was surprised by what he saw: two more Lopunny, these ones very voluptuous and curvaceous and feminine. He deduced that what he had backed into was a rather generous, furry bust of the first Lopunny, which, along with its lower half from hips to mid thighs, was covered by the same material as Ivan's clothing, but much less generously; Much more provocatively.

Ben caught himself staring and he snapped back out of it as he heard "you hold him for a second," and his left arm was released only to be grabbed again by one hand which was holding his right arm. He continued to fight, but he figure behind him was surprisingly and disturbingly much stronger than he was. He had absolutely no chance.

The Lopunny who had spoken walked around to the front of him and Ben found himself immediately blushing. It was an odd phenomenon, for him to be embarrassed in front of some creature, but it was so distinctively human-like and beautiful he couldn't help but be attracted to it, and he assumed she wasn't oblivious to this.

She folded her arms under her bust and looked him up and down and smiled. He felt scrutinized, and rightfully so. "Aren't you just the cutest!" She giggled and uncrossed her arms, stepping closer toward the restrained male. She paused for a moment, eyeing his robe's pockets, before sticking her hands in them, looking into his eyes and leaning in toward him as she did so. Ben grew increasingly uncomfortable, at least until she fished out the journal he had found and written in when he was plunged into all of this madness.

"Hey, give that back!" He fought again instinctively before remembering that it was useless. His jaw clenched as he watched her open it, thumbing through the few written and many blank pages, the pen she had retrieved from his other pocket sideways in her mouth. "I never have been able to read human writing," she lamented quietly, before putting the book and pen back into his pockets.

Once she was done rifling through his belongings, she looked at him again In an objective manner. He developed renewed unease as she stepped closer toward him again, her eyes darting up and down and across him. She spoke up again, "Hold onto him tight, Luna, I'm going to take a closer look." "I know, Starr, I've done this before," came the sigh of a response from behind Ben, and he felt the grip on his arms tighten. He was pulled back and against the body of the Lopunny behind him.

'Starr' picked her eyes up to meet Ben's, excitedly watching him with a small smile on her lips. She leaned down slightly, her arms coming up from her sides and her hands were placed on Ben's sides, who stood still nervously. "He's behaving well," Luna pointed out. Starr bit her lip and nodded. "I haven't done anything but touch him yet." Starr's hands moved toward one another and up his body to his chest, where they met and held loosely to the fabric of his robe. Ben's eyes widened but he didn't move.

Her hands slipped between the two sides of of the cloth, and the soft, short fur on them rested on his chest. He felt her fingers push slightly, depressing the muscle there. "Above-average musculature here..." She moved one hand along his body to his bicep, which gave him goosebumps, and put it on his bicep and gave another squeeze. "Here too." She retracted his hand and stepped in to his body closer, about an inch or two away and grabbed either side of his robe at the chest with both hands, pulling it closed as though fixing it for him, like a wife might fix a husband's tie.

Then she crouched down in front of him, her head just below level with his waist. Her hands followed her eyes to his lower legs, doing the same routine checks to the muscle there. "Nice calves," her hands slid up underneath the fabric of his robe to the backs of his thighs, "strong legs overall." He felt her open her hands to fill them with his butt, causing a surprised noise from the male, and both giggled at it. She squeezed him, and a similar noise was created. "Strong glutes. Very sensitive here," and both giggled again.

Then Starr got on both knees, lowering herself a little again. "Well?" Luna asked impatiently, and Starr looked up at her with irritation. "I'm getting there, I'm taking my time! Hold him tight, he might not like this..." And she put both of her hands on the tie in front of his body around his waist that held the integrity of his robe together. She looked like a kid on Christmas morning getting ready to unwrap the present she hoped she would get.

Ben wasn't an idiot, even if he was dumbstruck by the entire process. He cleared his throat and looked away, his cheeks blazing as he felt the front of his robe extend outward and upward. "Oh wow," came the pleasantly surprised response from Starr. She made quick work of untying the knot and pushing either side of his robe back to watch the rest of the process of his involuntary hardening, one hand on the front of either of his thighs.

"How is it," Luna wondered aloud to Starr, pressing her breasts into Ben's back as she peeked over his shoulder. "Huge reproductive structure! I've never seen anything like it on a human before!" Starr's eyes were as big as Ben was getting.

Ben was embarrassed and slightly unnerved to the point that he began struggling again. He thrashed his shoulders, causing Luna to stagger back a little but still hang onto him. He couldn't go anywhere, however, because Starr had his other two limbs held like vice grips. "Let me go," Ben demanded of the two loudly.

It was about this time that from the trees descended more Lopunny, all female and each dressed more promiscuously than the last. They were all making "ooo"ing and "ahh"ing noises at the two sisters' discovery, coming forward and making a circle around the three. The original two Lopunny beamed proudly.

Hands came in to Ben now, and even though Luna and Starr had released him, Ben wasn't going anywhere: he was surrounded. He frantically tried to cover himself as grabbing hands assaulted his body, even tearing the robe from his body, leaving him the naked focal point of the sexually charged moshpit.

Unnoticed, the flap from the tent opened, and from it emerged Lily, but there was someone else with her. The voice of the other being was loud, booming, commanding, and obviously belonged to a woman. It was a single word, but it carried enough power to instantly freeze everyone.

"Stop."

 **I skipped one of my classes today so I could write a longer chapter for you guys, hope it somewhat makes up for my absence. I should be writing w followup pretty soon. Hope you guys enjoyed it, make sure to write your thoughts in the comments!**

 **Arthenius**


	8. And You Are?

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I know, it's crazy, isn't it? I'm posting back to back days! Aren't you guys just lucky.**

 **There will be an important point at the end which invites READER SUGGESTION. You might even figure out what it is part way through/in the beginning. For now, though, just read and be thankful for what you've been given.**

 ***Cracks knuckles***

 _"Stop."_

Everyone did just that as soon as the command was issued. The whirlwind of excitement was almost eerily quick to die down, returning to a state of sanity. Not peace; this was not peaceful, but rather felt disturbingly like the calm before a storm. All heads turned immediately to the source of the voice, looking to the tent which was the centerpiece of the civilization.

Lily stood on the right of the other being, her arms folded over her chest and her lips pulled tight in what could have been disgust. Her head was moving side to side slightly, disappointedly shaking as she regarded the scene before her.

But she went almost unnoticed: all were focused on the creature beside her. Ben would later write in his journal-

" _The being that emerged from the tent beside the Buneary I have come to know to be Lily was unlike anything before I have seen. I had originally believed the voice which pierced the forest to belong to a woman, but more accurately it was a girl; she was about my age, and she could have potentially been an ordinary teenager girl._

 _Except she wasn't._

 _She looked so much like any girl I had seen before, and to my immediate but not lasting dismay, I realized that this was not another human in this crazy world, but rather something much different. Different from us, different from them (as I write this I know now they are Pokemon, but at the time I did not know the proper term). Somewhat of a combination of the two, a mixture of all of this best parts of either species, creating something beautiful and separate altogether._

 _This gorgeous young lady could have been a professional model, she was so gorgeous; yet she had a sort of different appearance, a false sense of naiveté, as though she could have just been the girl next door one had a crush on in grade school. All of her human features were perfect, even her hair seemed to naturally be 'just so', garnished with yellow flowers which brought out the best of her hazel eyes._

 _And yet, there was an aspect of her which was entirely different. Where there should have been nothing but skin, there was a thin, well-kept coat of light brown fur, with yellowish patches here and there (including a triangular portion whose point faced downward into her cleavage, but, I've digressed). It could not be seen from my angle at the time, but there was also a bushy tail which matched the trim color of her fur. Her ears had relocated themselves from the sides of her head as is typical of humans and instead taken refuge atop her head, as would a rabbit's, which is what her ears reminded me of: Lopunny ears. A bunny nose was in place of a human's_."

She commanded attention with merely her presence. "Who is responsible for all of this," she demanded in a stern tone which should not be in the arsenal of a girl her age. She began walking forward and the two sisters who troubled the human boy originally looked to each other, silently agreeing with one another that they had fucked themselves over.

Starr and Luna took off in opposite directions like a shot, each bouncing upward like a spring, or perhaps some character from Bleach whose name I would not know if it smacked me in the crotch with a hammer because I've only ever watched the show like three times and it confused the shit out of me the first two times and the third time I watched the first episode and it was confusing so I didn't watch it again but I've seen clips from the fight scenes in that show and I know they defy the laws of physics and whatever with their jumping and flashstepping which I've admittedly used before in a written roleplay fight without fully understanding what it entails and honestly gotten out of it for the better but anyway that's how the two Lopunny took off to get away from each other and up into the tree canopy.

The unknown figure closed its eyes, raising its hands out to its sides, and there was a sort of energy that coursed through the air for a moment electricity leaping between its hands, and then there were two flashes of light directly afterward whose brightness rivaled the Emergence. As this happened, Thunder cracked twice loudly, shaking the trees around them. Two more Lopunny looked at each other before taking off in the same direction, coming back seconds later (they didn't have to go too far) with two charred Lopunny bodies, who sizzled and twitched as though they had been stricken by lightning. They were taken into a slightly larger tent, presumably a sort of hospital.

Then it's eyes opened, and this 'shockingly' powerful being walked toward the rest of the crowded mass of bodies surrounding the human. She got to Ben, everyone else parting ways only as much as necessary but whenever necessary to carve a path for her. Ben did not move, for fear of its strength. Instead he regarded it with dinner plate eyes.

She circled around Ben, gaze rising and falling over the course of his body. She also poked and prodded at him as the previous two had, but her objectivity seemed to have a different schedule than what Ben took as deeming his suitability for breeding. She stood in front of him and stared into his eyes, one furry hand on either side of his head, gently holding him still. "Are you the one Lily speaks of?"

The only male in the immediate area became suddenly aware of all of the eyes on him, as he was all too acutely aware of the destruction that could be caused by these hands on either side of him. He swallowed nervously, and, very slowly and very carefully replied, "I, don't know, what the hell, is going on right now." A collective gasp was heard from the previously objectifying rabbitlike women around him. Ben looked around anxiously before continuing, "But I'm getting really self conscious being naked."

Nothing moved. No one breathed. All eyes were on the female opposite Ben, waiting for a reply to use as their reference point for how to react. She stared blankly, eyes searching his for a moment before she giggled once. A smile stayed on her lips, and then she couldn't help herself but begin laughing hysterically. All others but for Ben laughed nervously. Ten seconds later she calmed herself, and she gave a small nod. "It is he," she said declaratively, and she pressed soft lips to Ben's forehead, then released him. "Fetch him his robe," she spoke into the crowd, hands on hips, still watching Ben. "He needs it to feel secure in himself." She sounded as though she was teasing him.

Ben's eyes narrowed, and in typical off the cuff fashion he commented, "Forgive me, and please don't kill me for saying so, but don't you all wear clothes as well?" The girl in front of him seemed amused, and she crossed her arms under her bust. "Your timing couldn't be more unlikely: this is the only day we wear clothes, in practice of the Day of Remembrance." Ben nodded as though this made sense, accepting his robe from a nearby Buneary and donning it again, tying it in front of himself.

The girl dispersed the crowd save for Ben and Lily, and motioned for Ben to enter one of the smaller tents, which was empty. It appeared to be a normal tent, but once they got inside, it turned out to be...a normal tent. Room enough for eight, but a tent nonetheless. There were folding chairs inside, and each of the three sat in one. For a while it was quiet, then Ben asked the inevitable question: "What is going on right now?"

And Lily and the girl related to Ben the history of the world, according to writing. This had to include explaining to him what Pokemon were, and the Prophecy (which was painful, as they had to include all popular interpretations). Once Ben's seemingly endless questions were satisfied, Ben weaves a tale of the human world from which he came. Just as curious as he was, they were. They were interested by human religion, and had trouble grasping the concept of animals, without being able to see them. Ben drew crude pictures in the dirt to clarify, but his artistry left much to be desired, so it was only so helpful.

Silence ensued again. Outside, it had long since reached the pitch black of night. They all listened to the sounds of a distant Kricketune and its Kricketot for a while, and then Ben piped up again: "Okay, I get the whole Pokemon thing. That explains a lot, but what are you?" He played back what he had just said in his head and he immediately went to cover his tracks: "No, I didn't mean- well, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be rude..." He broke off when he saw the girl holding up a hand to stop him. "Don't worry about it."

The girl resettled in her chair, stealing a glance at Lily before explaining. "Well, for a while after all the humans left, some Pokemon missed them. We still do. It isn't actually recorded in anywhere because it was purged from our history, but some of the first few Emergences proved to be females. We didn't know what Arceus was wanting of us. Then one of the Elder Ones, a Gardevoir, suggested that they were sent to repopulate the planet with humans. So, in a surge of excitement, ethics were eschewed and we captured a male and a female human and, uh," she paused, clearing her throat and sitting up straighter, obviously embarrassed by the history of her kind. "We forced them to mate so that they could breed. It didn't work at first; so we kept trying it again and again and, well..." She looked awkwardly to Lily before continuing, "We basically fucked them to death," she said bluntly.

She didn't look like she wanted to go on. But, Ben's question was still left unanswered, and he wasn't drawing any conclusions. "And...?"

The girl signed. "Well, it was obvious upon some scientific research that all of the female humans were sterile. But, all the males were still fertile. So, we tried the only thing that we could think of..." She stopped when she looked to Ben and gleaned from his expression covered in red that he finally figured it out. "Oh. Yeah," he offered in response. "Uh. Thanks." A nod in reply.

"Anyway, it turned out that hybrids, or Anthros, like myself are either immeasurably more powerful or terribly weak- relatively." A blank stare called for clarification. "It either enhances or ruins the powers of a Pokemon." "Oh. Why didn't you say that?" A glare from- "By the way, Ms. Anthro person, what is your name?" She paused, just coming to terms with the fact that she had not yet shared this information. "Delaney, but you can call me Lane if you like." Ben raised an eyebrow, obviously not loving the nickname. "Or just Delaney," she offered, followed by a giggle. Ben smirked, looking to Lily. "Oh. She fell asleep." Her breathing was steady and her leg kicked occasionally. Delaney shook her head, smiling.

The two had a lapse in conversation, just looking over one another for a minute or two. Perhaps because she was the closest thing to something he recognized in this world, Ben felt rather at ease in the Anthro's presence. As this thought ran through his brain, the beauty across from him stood up, stretching her arms above her head; Ben stole a glance to her chest. "You know, Ben..." He looked up at her from his folding chair.

She walked very, unnecessarily slowly over the short distance toward him. Her hips seemed to sway side to side more than he had seen previously. Ben raised an eyebrow, and she lowered herself down, sliding into his lap, facing him. He gulped nervously, and he felt her soft, furry arms slipping around his neck loosely. Fur brushed up against his face as she leaned in to his ear, whispering quietly: "I've always wondered what would happen if our two kinds were to breed."

 **Aaaaand that's where we'll leave off for today. But yes, people, that's right- the main characters of the series are going to be Anthropomorphic Pokemon. Which means we could even have a sexy Wurmple if we wanted (not really). So, I'm gonna need some suggestions for what Anthros will be featured. Please make it logical, however. For example, Wurmple would be out because one does not shove one's dick into a bug. Make it at least somewhat reasonable a breeding choice.**

 ** _Leave your suggestions in the comments if you want it to be public or PM if you want it to be private._**

 **Arthenius**


	9. Gotta Go

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **(Fun fact: I completed forgot Lily existed on my first draft of this chapter, so I had to completely rewrite it.)**

 **First, happy thanksgiving to all of my American viewers; According to my "story properties," that's a lot of you guys. Me too. Anyway.**

 **So, this is going to go differently than I originally intended, but, I fucked up a detail or two of the last chapter (not going to mention what). Whatever. Anyway.**

 **So, explicit content warning and everything. Specifically language. I'm going to try to keep it under control, but there might be a little bit of XL in upcoming chapters. If it gets out of hand? Let me know. Anyway.**

 **Don't know why you people would be offended by a few obscenities if you're okay with people and fantasy creatures fucking, but I digress. Anyway.**

 **So like. Yeah. Here's the next chapter.**

 **(Plot twist eminent)**

 **Previously on ZTS:**

 **"** _She walked very, unnecessarily slowly over the short distance toward him. Her hips seemed to sway side to side more than he had seen previously. Ben raised an eyebrow, and she lowered herself down, sliding into his lap, facing him. He gulped nervously, and he felt her soft, furry arms slipping around his neck loosely. Fur brushed up against his face as she leaned in to his ear, whispering quietly: "I've always wondered what would happen if our two kinds were to breed."_ **"**

The mood of the tent immediately took a one-eighty when the words met his ear. Suddenly he was engaged in an ethical battle, not only about whether or not this would count as bestiality but also if it was morally wrong or not to screw this beautiful young woman in the presence of some adorable little talking bunny, who was breathing shallowly, exhibiting signs of stage one sleep, from which she would be woken rather easily.

These questions never got the opportunity to be answered, however: just as he was going to have to make a decision, Ben's attention was drawn to the flaps of the tent, which had been drawn open forcefully and hurriedly. From outside were sounds of panic, and flashes of brown and yellow fur which could be identified as Lopunny and Buneary. Lily woke up resentfully and met eyes with her father, then looked to the other two.

Standing in the now open makeshift doorway was Ivan, the only other male Ben had encountered since he had entered the fucked up society in the first place. His breathing was heavy as if he had been running more than he had in quite a while. Three pairs of eyes found him immediately, and one pair of eyes alternated between the other three. His mouth was open like he was going to say something, but the furry male paused, as though he forgot what he was going to say when he saw the two together. Ben held his hands up and away from his body to say 'This wasn't my idea'. Ivan still scared him a little. The Anthro clambered off of Ben, getting to a stand behind him and blushing with her head down slightly. Lily giggled.

Ivan blinked twice and then shook his head, and he suddenly remembered what he came to say. He pointed a broken spear to his right, fear surfacing in his eyes from where it was hidden. "Tyranitar. A giant herd of them like I've never seen; far too many to hope to fight. We're evacuating everyone. Now. Go." 'Tyranitar,' Ben thought to himself. He got an image, and a general idea of the power that was coming. Beams of energy and light tore through the sky coming from where Ivan had pointed.

The three took off like bolts out of the tent. As Ben crossed the threshold however, he was met with a hand on his throat, stopping him abruptly and causing him to make a gagging noise. 'Damn, he has a strong grip,' was his first and only thought. Ivan stared into his eyes as though he was reading his soul, a power Ben was vaguely aware that the Pokemon would not have. It occurred to the human that he might be expected to explain himself.

Ben's tone was frantic and stumbling. He was acutely aware of the impending doom coming from not only the dinosaur-esque Pokemon but also the furry one with the strong grip if he was not quick with his words. His gaze found the floor. "Okay I'm sorry I was flirting with her and she was flirting back and we were having a good time and she said she wanted to know what would happen if we bred and-" as his eyes met Ivan's he realized he was a blabbering idiot and he was supposed to be listening. He shut up.

The spear in his right hand was jammed into the ground beside him. "I made a pact to stay here in these woods. I'm going to die here on the battlefield. That means I can't go with the rest of you, with her." He jerked his chin in the direction of the gorgeous Anthro whose bunny tail could still be seen bouncing away off in the distance. "She is the most important individual of our village, and she's very fragile at this age. You're going to keep her safe."

Ben realized he didn't even bother to mention Lily. "What about, um, your daughter?" Ivan stared at him as though he had just sprouted six dicks from his nose. "She can tend to herself." "But she's so tiny..." Another odd stare. "She's forty-six years old." Now it was Ben's turn to be incredulous, "No shit."

Ivan released his neck from his hand, nodding. He spit into the ground and shoved Ben aggressively in the direction of the evacuation. "Now catch up." Ben staggered for a few steps, but didn't fall, instead taking off into a sprint. As his speed increased, he frowned with surprise. He just kept running faster, faster even than he had before. He managed to catch up to the herd of rabbit-Pokemon without difficulty. Were they slow or was he fast? He ran alongside the two with whom he had acquainted.

Thirty minutes elapsed during the evacuation. As the Tyranitar got closer to Ivan, the Buneary and Lopunny and human got father away. Ivan saw the first one at around the same time that a scream sounded from the front of the pack. Orange lights could be seen lighting up the night. Pokemon darted in every direction, pushing past one another as Ben and his two companions fought their way to the front of the group. He was met with another surprise.

At about the same time the word "Magmortar" sounded from either side of Ben, his friends ('friends'? Ben wondered later), Ben registered 'fire' and 'danger' and 'holy fuck my feet are moving', and then he realized he was taking off again. "Split up!", came from Lily. She divided herself from the other two. The fire Pokemon didn't seem to notice her, sending Flamethrowers in the direction of the other two, who they pursued without abandon.

 **Sorry that this was short and shitty. Was this short and shitty? It felt short and shitty. Anyway, I'll get a better chapter out... Tomorrow. Hopefully. I just wanted to publish this one and get it off my chest.**

 **Arthenius**


	10. Great Text- Genesect

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I couldn't for the life of me write the next narrative chapter for ZTS. I know what I want it to say, I just can't find the energy to write it. It was too much plot and not enough advancement for today. So, I thought I'd go with zero advancement, because that makes sense, right? Here's another excerpt from everyone's favorite religious document. Obviously, the books aren't chronological and what you guys get to see wouldn't be the only thing written in them. They're excerpts.**

 _Visions of the Etherrealm come fleetingly to those who meditate, and who understand what they're meditating for: not only to see and understand, but to know what they would use the knowledge for. Because of this, our understanding of it is very limited, and the concept we have could be entirely wrong. Just as we could not possibly comprehend all of our universe, even with the assistance of my brethren and of brother Deoxys, even with brother Rayquaza and brothers Mew and Mewtwo, with brothers Soulrock and Lunatone, with brother Claydol, it is simply an impossible task. Just as is the comprehension of the Etherrealm._

 _Yet, though the former frontier seems unable to be reached, it is said that there are those of us who have looked upon the face of our God, our Arceus, and have had their Third Eye opened. Thus we have power and understanding beyond our active knowledge, beyond our realm of understanding, and beyond our own personal physical limitations. It is said that any who have encounters with Him are blessed, and blessed ostensibly. Legends are told of out-of-body experiences leading to great achievements. It is even said this can be true of some humans._

Genesect Delta, book 2, chapter 7 of the Great Text

 _The infusion of power of the two Species is not an unheard of thing; There is a legend which tells of a great human known to call himself "Brock". This Brock pursued physical desires, giving in to his carnal callings and indulging rather frequently and excessively in things which have been and which were known to be promiscuous; The Brock of the story would go about his species and he would mate for pleasure rather than procreation._

 _And as his own race came to outcast him as a pariah, he looked upon his brethren, and he continued his ways with our sistren. His own people looked down upon him, and for a while as did we. "A Pokephiliac," he was called, and society cast stones upon him._

 _And yet, as continued to mate with more females, it is said that the desire became less metaphysical; It is claimed that he was brought to higher and higher levels of bonding and understanding of his partners, and before long he had viewed us as one. He writes:_

 _"And yet, as I await lie there following the long night, I felt guilt in my indulgence; As though I had opened Pandora's Box, I gradually shifted perspectives in a way that was not normal. My consciousness drifted briefly, over my partner and further even._

 _[...]_

 _Then I saw Him. He with the indescribable face, who I knew somehow to be my own. And, as I looked upon the face of Arceus, I caught the briefest of glimpses into his eyes, which served as Windows not only into his soul but into mine, into the souls of all._

 _[...]_

 _And I was approbated for my attempts for unification between the two species, and I was told to share my message throughout the land. And I was gifted with a language which spoke itself; As though flowing through me as opposed to my using it. I was told of a Prophecy which has come to be common knowledge._

 _But I was told of the Messiah, and I knew him by name._

 _And I have his instructions from Arceus Himself."_

 _The remainder of his manuscript is in this unknown language, and since its inscription, wise beings from throughout the land have come to the Capitol to try to read it, but none have succeeded. It is said that only the Messiah could possibly read these words, though that has not seemed to stop anyone._

 _[...]_

 _And this Brock was no longer viewed as a pariah but as a paragon; the humans viewed him as the exception to the rule, the one who they would allow to lay with his fellow Pokemon without consequence. They did not understand the obvious positive results of such acts, and so our efforts to mate were rejected. If only they had realized the potential positives._

 _[...] the humans have realized the risk, it has been decided. Horrible tales are told of a perfectly natural mating ritual, punctuated by an unexpected, sudden and inexplicable death. Perhaps this is what makes them so wary._

 _[...] And yet the Anthros, the powerful of whom believed to be blessings from Arceus, as they are so infrequently brought into this world, are born regardless of the father's death. An interesting phenomenon which will require years of study, and longer still without a population of males to participate._

 _The partners who survive, however, even without the existence of procreation, exhibit unusual capabilities. Stories are told of humans calling upon the powers of Thunder and Lightning; summoning Blizzards and Flamethrowers from thin air; Surfing unnaturally and, in rare and unsupported accounts, even Flying._

 _These powers seemed to be juvenile and undercontrolled at first, but with the coaxing of their Pokemon brethren as tutors, it is said to have become second nature. Examples of such individuals are Brock, who ruled the kingdom of humans for six lifetimes; Max, who is credited with the creation of modern human technology; Gary Oak, who established the field of Pokemedicine._

Genesect Alpha, book 2, chapter 10 of the Great Text.

This chapter has been removed in some renditions, as it is in parts unnecessarily explicit and ill-represented. Some simply don't believe his claims, and they are debated between such figures as Aura Master Lucario and Ancient Metagross.

 **Well that was entertaining. I'm pretty sure it was a shit read, but it was fun to write so fuck off.**

 **Just kidding. Love you guys.**

 **No homo.**

 **Arthenius**


	11. Is That what it Looks Like?

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **Two posts in one day because I feel bad about the quality recently. If my quality is bad I try to do quantity, but quantity is a second priority to quality always.**

 **Just so you guys know.**

 **I'll try to advance the story more, and at some point there will be some explanation. I promise.**

Ben and Delaney were at a dead sprint. The Magmortar behind them seemed to float effortlessly through the air in pursuit, as though they weren't even trying to catch up. Flamethrowers littered the airspace, heating their backs and causing Delaney to cry out in alarm at their closeness. And they were running faster than Ben ever had in his entire life, potentially setting a new human land speed record.

A fireball three feet in diameter whizzed past Ben's ear, and he was certain it had to have singed his ear. He cast a glance over his shoulder, and he saw that they were no longer being chased by the freakishly dangerous fire Pokemon with the cannonlike arms. Delaney seemed to notice as well, and together they began to slow to a stop. The fire types were nowhere to be found. They looked at each other with confused expressions, neither saying a word because neither knew what to say. They were utterly alone together, having been forced to separate from the group.

Their peace did not last long.

From the woods to their right came a horrible sound. They both wheeled around to see that it was the sound of a full-grown tree being snapped in half as though it were a twig. The Aggron responsible lowered its head slightly and bellowed a battle cry. Both of the two who were being treated as prey in an inter species cat and mouse game winced, and took off in the opposite direction. The Aggron stayed where it was, but threw the two portions of the tree at them, giving another roar.

They ran for but a few seconds before it as apparent they were not only in the thick brush they had been forced into. As they fought against bushes and tree limbs and evaded roots in a mad dash, they were scared almost shitless by the sound of what had to be a jet turbine directly beside them. A jet turbine with a rock band using a tower of amplifiers ten feet high who were blaring a train horn. The invasive and sudden sound was that violent and loud. They turned their heads to meet with four Exploud, all screaming at the top of their lungs. The sheer force of the air being expelled actually picked them off of the ground and tossed them a few feet through the air.

Ben's ears were ringing, but Delaney was on the ground in fetal position, her expression contorted in pain as she grabbed gingerly at her ears. Tears rolled down her face. It occurred to Ben that the Lopunny-style auditory structures must have been incredibly more sensitive than his were. He shook her violently, urging her to move, and to move now. The Exploud were closing in slowly.

In a surge of adrenaline, Ben bent down and picked the Anthro up over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, and he began running as fast as he possibly could while having to support the feminine figure, which was still strikingly quick. As he took off, he heard the inhaling of air from behind him and braced himself for another Uproar, but it never came. He was relieved.

He was slowing down when, from the trees around him, there was a buzzing. He recognized it immediately as the sound of Beedrill preparing to swarm. He swore under his breath and headed one direction, left, where, almost as though they materialized there, he was met with a cloud of Beedrill. He turned to go back the way he came and encountered a similar result. He did an about face and the same thing. He was surrounded except for one side, the direction he had been heading all along.

He paused for a moment before running again. Something felt off. All of these dangers, and all of these powerful Pokemon, all so close together seemed...unusual. Convenient. Unlikely. He didn't feel chased, he felt...herded. As though he was being driven one way specifically.

The Beedrill were hovering and not attacking. Staying where they were and not moving. Ben frowned, adjusting the weight of Delaney on his shoulders, and walked toward a cloud. They buzzed louder, and they swarmed aggressively, but made no move to go toward him. He was heading in the opposite direction of the clearing provided by the Pokemon when he stepped on something. He backpedaled a few steps to look at it and what did he see?

A Sceptile. He had stepped on the face of a sleeping Sceptile he hadn't even noticed because the bug-type Pokemon had intrigued and entranced him so. One eye shot open and locked onto him, and it rose to a stand, and it did something with its head which Ben would relate to cracking its neck. Ben resisted the urge to cry out for his mother. He was all but trapped.

He backed up at an angle, not even caring he was heading toward an increasingly angry swarm of Beedrill. The Sceptile raised its head, and the yellow orbs on its back glowed with an undeniable power. "Oh, fuck," Ben spat bluntly. He stared, mesmerized until its head lowered abruptly and its mouth opened.

About forty five minutes earlier, back at the Bunny City, as Ben had deemed it upon arrival, Ivan stood in the center of the tents, a spear in one hand whose point was jabbed directly into the ground. He was staring in the direction he knew the Tyranitar were coming from, giving his final prayers to Arceus and asking for his guidance on the battlefield. His eyes opened when he heard a deafening roar directly ahead of him. Eight Tyranitar stepped into his field of view through the trees in a semicircle.

Ivan bowed his head, realizing now that there was absolutely no way he would be surviving this. He had originally thought, 'perhaps I can defeat a Tyranitar or two'. But now, as he stared his fate in the eyes, his head rotating to look at all right who stood motionlessly, waiting for Ivan to make the first move, the Elder Lopunny who had been through countless fights came to terms with the fact that this would be when, where, and how he died.

He removed the spear from the ground and dropped into a defensive stance. The dinosaur Pokemon began closing in from all sides. The ground shook with each coordinated step. Ivan's legs tensed as he prepared to spring into the air to dodge an attack and administer one of his own. He heard the sound of Hyper Beams charging all around him. Waiting for the right moment. His head was down, eyes closed. Relying on his natural instinct and other sense to tell him when.

But the time never came.

He opened his eyes to see the massive, dangerous creatures fading from existence, like smoke that was blown away by the wind. A reddish aura pulsed in the surrounding area, and then there was nothing.

Ivan stood in shock, looking around in bewilderment. The only thing he saw was a blur of a black, furry humanoid creature taking off into the trees. Then there was silence as far as Ivan could hear.

He was alone.

Back with the other two in the present time.

Ben ran along the circular boundary created by the Beedrill as a Solar Beam chased him, occupying the space directly behind him with pure energy. He locked eyes on the clearing and continued along his rounded path, so as not to be melted by the power chasing him, until he reached it, and headed where he probably should have been going all along. Running that way. 'Okay nature, you want me to go this way? I'll go this way,' Ben thought to himself.

He sprinted for what had to be no more than fifteen seconds before the trees abruptly gave way to the open air. He skidded to a stop so quickly that Delaney was thrown from his shoulders. She groaned in irritation but not pain on the ground. "What the fuck...?" Ben's voice was pure amazement and disbelief.

The forest which had chewed him thoroughly spat him out on top of a large, green, grassy hill, which overlooked a massive valley. He was at one of the highest points he could see, but it wasn't where it was that had shocked Ben to the core:

It was what he saw.

Down below, as if it had been lifted from one place and thrown into the middle of a valley surrounded by the forest, isolated from the rest of the world and completely separated by time and space, was a metropolitan city. Advertisements flashed on gigantic television monitors. The honking of unseen vehicles was audible from where he was standing. Delaney sat up and was equally awed.

"I've heard stories about places like this, but..." She took in more of the scene below her visually before she continued, "I never actually believed hat they existed."

An entire city, just like the humans lived in before the Awakening and in the Etherrealm lay before them, populated not by people but by Pokemon, dressed in regular human clothes as if it was perfectly ordinary. Which, to them, it probably was.

Unseen behind the two, a red aura flashed signaling the disappearance of more predatory Pokemon. The dangers of the forest that had pursued them, chasing them to this spot abruptly ceased to exist. Although, they never had actually existed to begin with.

Also unseen, sitting in a tree and watching over the two was a black furry figure. The same creature that Ivan had seen fleeing from his what was to be his final battle. It had red accents in its fur and a strikingly voluptuous feminine figure. Covering its furry body was a tight, black, spandex bodysuit that hugged its curves. It stared at the Anthro girl and the human boy.

A satisfied smirk on its face.

 **Congrats to anyone who figured out what was going on prior to the end. But yes, there's Zoroark's debut.**

 **Arthenius**


	12. A City of Opportunity?

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **IT TURNS OUT I HAD THE DEFINITIONS OF AFFECT AND EFFECT SWITCHED SO FUCK ME SIDEWAYS I FAILED THE SAT**

 **I'm sick, so my brain is a little clogged, but I need to write something. If it's exceptionally bad, please let me know, and I will rewrite it when I'm feeling better.**

 **Tilda (~) in the story means elapsed time. You people probably would have figured that out.**

The ambient temperature, spurred by a rush of cold air which stirred leaves from a slumbering state on the ground who danced briefly before settling back, displaced a few feet, seemed to drop almost instantaneously. The black cloak of night was still drawn over the world, suffocating most of the light which should have otherwise illuminated their surroundings, but instead caused the trees behind them to develop an ominous look, branches dangling and moving as if on their own, small shadows cast by a moon who greedily hid its light behind a cloud. In Ben's home world it was the middle of summer, he recalled, but here it seemed to be either late fall or early winter. Jack Frost eschewed his characteristic tickling, instead biting intermittently at the pair.

Delaney rose to her feet. A ringing in her ears from an unwanted surprise concert from the group of Exploud previously still remained, though the affect of which was dwindling. She moved over to stand beside Ben, whose brown robe which was clutched about his body looked inviting and warm. Even through her fur the chill got to her, causing her body to shiver; he was by far the more clothed of the two, and the cold seemed to only minimally bother him.

She inched toward him, hesitating before turning to face him squarely and wrapping her arms about his waist, holding him tightly in an attempt to leech some of his body heat. Ben was a little surprised but understood immediately her dilemma, his left arm pulling free of her embrace to encircle her loosely. "What do we do now," the female asked quietly.

The world came crashing in on the male immediately. He was all alone with a girl- a creature, a female one, who he didn't know until but a few hours ago, in a world where he had no chance to live a normal life, away from his own family, population, _planet,_ even. He stared out over the lights which, every so often, could be found in the city below. It was night time but there were streetlights. Even a few windows in large buildings which were on, whose residents were sleepless.

Ben knew now that he was the decision-maker... He had his and his new ally's destinies in his own two calloused, gigantic hands, and there was no one to help him. He just continued to stare down over the city below, which gave an air of opportunity and also one of uncertainty. He didn't bother turning around to his other option; he could feel the forest creeping up on him, baring its fangs and watching him, telling the little fly to step into its web.

"We keep going," was the quiet response from the male. He felt a head bobbing below his, and long, floppy bunny ears pulled upright brushed against his cheeks as this motion was done. He couldn't help but smile despite the weight of the situation. "Maybe there's someone down there who can help us," Ben offered as his reason. Silence continued to ensue from his partner. He took in a deep breath and made his way down, holding her against him as he moved. Wishing the two were more aptly dressed for the situation.

Behind them, a shiny black material caught the light of the moon for a moment as it moved suddenly. No noise seemed to come from the black and red figure as it darted along the treeline, a few feet deep into the forest. Taking a roundabout route to the opposite side of the city as the other two.

The metropolis which, from the higher vantage point by the dark forest, had appeared to be so bright and inviting appeared much less so as the two walked along the streets. Noiselessness was the norm as the two cautiously wandered about the streets. Sometimes, in an alley, the noise of a small animal- no, Pokemon- would startle the pair for a moment before they would continue. At ground level, the place repelled hope, dimly lit only occasionally by faulty streetlights which buzzed and flickered, threatening to turn themselves off at any time without so much as a moment's further notice. Delaney's ears had fallen limp from above her head, dangling instead, which Ben assumed to be a symptom of an anxiety that he shared.

"What are we looking for," Delaney warily asked from underneath Ben's left arm. Ben was on the side closer to the odious alleys, Delaney closer to the street where no motorists nor bicyclists nor pedestrians could be seen. "I don't know if they exist here, but where I'm from there are places you can stay for a night," Ben replied. His head was on a swivel not just for such a building but for any potential danger. He wasn't sure what good he could possibly do, but he instinctively felt protective of this girl.

Somewhere just under ten minutes of systematically going up and down city blocks later, Ben abruptly stopped in front of a building. It had a red roof on it, and there was an illuminated sign in the front window which read _Vacancy_. A successful smile found its way to the human's lips. Delaney's ears perked up at the sudden spike in Ben's mood; She seeming to draw from his positive energy.

They walked through the door together, and Ben looked around. The place felt safe, giving off an aura of comfort and protection. Their eyes fell simultaneously upon the Chancey behind the front desk, who was eyeing them very carefully but almost managed to hide her suspicion behind a well-rehearsed smile and bubbly energy. "Welcome to the Pokemom Center," she stated in a tone fitting of her cheery attitude and overall nature. "How can I help you?" She seemed to be a little off-put by the human and scantily clad, tribal-style Anthro. Certainly not her average customers.

Ben's mouth opened to speak, but he didn't get the opportunity. He was cut off immediately by the girl under his arm, who actually separated herself from him to approach the desk and the Pokemon behind it. He received a cautioning look as she moved closer. "My human and I need a place to stay," she said. She didn't have any experience with this field of interaction, but she was playing it off rather well. Ben mouthed the words "My human" with a small frown.

"Oh, yes, of course. That'll be-" "We don't have any money," Delaney quickly interjected. Chancey's mood deflated visibly. Delaney continued: "We were just robbed, and they took everything- even tried to take my clothes, but my little guy here protected me." She shot a beaming smile to Ben, though the look in her eyes was dire. He smiled nervously.

The fluffy, pink Pokemom seemed to be mulling all of this over. "Have you reported the crime yet?" A nod. More mulling. She looked them both over again, then looked side to side as if expecting someone to jump out at her. Then she leaned forward, as did the other two in response. "I can give you a room complimentary, but just for tonight. And you can't tell anyone." Two nods. "Alright. This way, please."

The Pokemon who took pity on the duo led them to a first story room, whose sliding door opens when Chancey present a key card. She handed the card afterward to Delaney and gestured for them to enter. Still suspicious of the two, but letting that affect her tone, which was still light, airy, and pleasant. "Enjoy your stay." The pink Pokemon paused for a moment then addressed one of her concerns: "Please do make this little guy here behaves him." With that, she departed. Looking back over her shoulder once on the way to the front desk. Leaving a speechless Ben in her wake.

"What-" Ben's tone was approaching outraged, but he found a furry hand/paw mixture clamped over his mouth. As though he was being kidnapped, Delaney grabbed him around the waist and hauled him into the room, backing up until the sliding door closed in front of them. Damn she was strong. Only then did she release the now frantic male. "What-" Ben started again, but was silenced by a harsh "shhhh!" from the girl. He ground his teeth against one another irritatedly, then whisper-yelled at Delaney: "What the fuck was her issue?"

The Anthro looked at him for a moment before looking away. As though she didn't really want to enlighten him. But, she did. "You see, Ben," she began carefully, "A lot of civilized societies don't see humans as equals to us." Ben waited. A since from Delaney. "A lot of cities around my village I've been told are like that."

Ben was furious. He looked around for something to hit to relieve his stress,but no such outlet presented itself. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and turning to face away from her, looking down at the ground and muttering for a moment, before facing her again. "So what exactly am I here?"

Delaney made her way over to the door, examining it and trying to figure out how to lock it. She'd never been to a city this size, but a lot of surrounding villages had basic technology. She found the lock and twisted it to secure them inside as she replied. "Um, to some, a pet..." She lingered at the door.

The obvious question was asked after a moment or two. "And to others?" Ben folded his arms over his chest. Delaney bit her lip for a second before whispering. "A slave."

Ben's hands found the top of his head, fingers entangling themselves in his hair. He turned and walked over to a wall, leaning his head against it. "Isn't that just fucking fantastic." Delaney gave brief and quiet apologies, but Ben ignored them. "Let's just get to sleep, alright? This has been the most exhausting day I've ever experienced." Delaney nodded in approval.

The two looked at each other, then looked at the problem at hand.

Their room only had one bed.

 **Sorry it took so long for those of you who check around 11 for my regular updates, I actually took a nap during my writing period. But whatever.**

 ***Sexual tension activated.***

 **Arthenius**


	13. Off with your Clothes!

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I'm loving you guys right now. I looked up the stats for ZTS and we're averaging about 450 visitors a day in the month of December. Keep it up!**

 **Also, for those of you who read my posts as they come out, don't expect them around 11:00 EST any more... It'll vary now. Some chapters just take longer than others, and all of these are beginning to take a while. I write a word about every one and a half seconds, as this is a lot of words.**

The spontaneously noticed issue caused both of the two in the room to begin looking around them. Their place for the night consisted of a very simple design: a bed (got that already), a sliding door along one wall which presumably led to a bathroom, a fridge which was doubtlessly stocked full of overpriced drinks, a basket of doubtlessly overpriced snacks, and a microwave, the latter two sitting on a shelf which protruded from the wall, under which the miniature fridge hummed contentedly to itself.

Ben looked to Delaney, who was still looking around, her back to the bed and her eyes combing across every inch of open space, which wasn't much to begin with. He watched her cross the room to aforementioned door, opening it to, yes, a bathroom with a toilet (shocking, right?), a sink, and a bathtub which was exposed when she drew aside a shower curtain. She looked to the towels sitting on a metal shelf above the toilet and then to the tub again. Her brain appeared to be working rather hard, but she wasn't accomplishing anything by the look on her face. She stepped back into the main area, uncommanded door closing behind her.

Ben had, in his day, seen a lot of movies, television shows, cheap pornos, and even read a few books which presented this problem. He was zoned out looking at the Anthro in front of him as he recalled one which conformed to the basic plot, if you could call it that, of the events which would follow: the couple try to be polite with one another and offer the other the bed, they after a while reluctantly get into bed together, and then they don't sleep the entire night.

"...to me?" Ben was snapped out of his hallucinatory state by the back end of the question. Instinctively, he said "huh?" and tried to refocus. Delaney gave a sigh, placing her hands on her hips in irritation with the male in front of her. "I said, what are you waiting for?" In response to this, Ben blinked once or twice, not entirely sure if he had missed something or if he simply wasn't following what she aid.

Delaney shook her head. "You said you were tired." A nod. "Are you not going to get into bed?" Her brow wrinkled in confusion. It occurred to her that humans, at least those who weren't being used for reproductive purposes as in her village, might have different processes for going to sleep. She gestured to the bed to designate her inference.

"Oh. Uh, yeah." In his head, Ben assumed that she had just skipped the first step or two. He walked over and pulled back the covers, smoothing out his robe and climbing into bed. Delaney gave him a look like he was from another planet, then her face softened slightly as she realized, well, he was. She made her way to the door into the hallway and pressed a button which turned off the light. The only illumination was provided by a distant streetlight whose beam shone weakly through a window. Ben couldn't yet see at all, but Delaney didn't seem hindered.

Ben adjusted the pillow behind his head and smiled as he put his head down on it. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend that he was in his own bed in his own home, getting ready to end his normal day of his normal life, preparing to wake up with his usual family on his usual planet.

The next sound made him realize that perhaps this place could provide other thorns that were just as good.

Delaney pulled her top off over her head, tossing it onto the floor in one corner, and then followed suit with her bottoms. Ben couldn't see anything except for a shadow, despite how hard he looked, straining every part of his eye and his brain to make out the nude figure not ten feet from him. Delaney stared back in the night, able to see perfectly the perv despite the minimal light. "What?" A pause. He realized that she could see. "Nothing," he assured her, closing his eyes.

His eyes cracked open discreetly when he heard her moving, and his heart skipped a beat when he felt her peeling back the covers on the opposite side of the bed, and her light weight gently depressing the bed. Her ears lay lay against the sides of her head in a relaxed state. They lay on either side for a moment before she turned on her side to get more comfortable. Ben casually turned in the same direction and scooted a few inches closer.

At this distance, Ben could barely make out the ears, shoulders, and back of the head of the Anthro girl in front of him. The space separating them was about eight inches, and because of their proximity the covers were raised as opposed to lowered against the bed, and Ben could see under them- or at least he could have in better light. He tried anyway. He almost gave himself a migraine, but after staring for long enough, he could see the fluffy yellow bunny tail he had noticed on her before, her fur beginning to thin out the closer it came to her rear. He, as casual as a lepper with dementia trying to cross a silent church, slid down the bed a few inches under the covers and down his pillow. His sight improved as the distance decreased, and he could see almost perfectly the little butt she had which was covered in short, thin, light brown fur.

"What are you doing?" Came the question which snapped him out of a trance for the second time in the past few minutes. A head picked up off the pillow and turned to look at him over her shoulder just as he hastily moved back up to a logical height on the bed and looked back at her. He was silent as he was sure that she caught him. She continued, "why haven't you taken off your robe? You're going to get hot in that," she justified. "I know your mind is very shy and self-conscious about your bodies, but it only makes sense."

Ben stared for a second before nodding, ignoring the warmth in his cheeks. He was aware of her continuing to watch him, though only his face, as he disrobed, quite literally, under the covers. He felt the weight of his diary- no, journal, and pen as he dropped it to the ground, also naked. She gave a nod of satisfaction and put her head back down in the other direction.

Ben had sneakily scooter an inch or two closer while he was taking his clothes off, and now he was all too close to the girl beside him. She gave off warmth from her furry body that he could feel at this distance. He frowned as he saw that she wasn't trying anything, as he had originally projected, but then he thought about her last remark. Take his clothes off... He was going to get hot...

He went out on a limb and picked up on what he was certain had to be subtle cues for him to make a move. As he was on his right side facing her, he picked his left hand up and slowly, carefully put it down on the outside of one of her thighs, the one not against the bed. He didn't get a reaction, so he took it one step further, sliding the large hand up her body carefully, slowly, hesitantly.

He got a few inches below her waist when, quick enough to make him physically jump as well as cry out quietly in alarm, he felt his hand suddenly in the crushing grip of her delicate-looking yet incredibly strong hands.

"What the fuck are you doing now," she questioned agitatedly, sitting up fully and turning her upper body to face him. She kept a vice grip on his hand, holding it in the air as proof of his wrongdoing. Ben's eyes looked to her for a moment before dropping to her exposed chest. She had a similarly light brown fur there too, which thinned out gradually, all the way to puffy brown nipples on top of not terribly perky but really, really big breasts. Ben's mouth opened but nothing came out except his tongue, which licked his lips as he wordlessly closed his mouth again.

She followed his gaze and then looked at his hand and developed a tone which was heavily saturated with pity. "What's the matter? Is the thought of being in bed with me keeping you awake?" She smirked a little. Bringing his hand up to her chest just under her neck, above and between her breasts. She slowly dragged it down her body. "Hm?" She promoted him again monosyllabically. Ben gave a nod, distant.

She pulled the covers off of them, and she turned her whole body to face him. Ben's expression immediately turned from hopeful to confident. It was about that time when she released his hand, placing both of hers on the bed on either side of her, and he was about to start perusing her body with his now freed hand when it happened.

She pulled her legs up close to her body, then, in a flash, issued a hard, double-footed strike to Ben's stomach and chest, enough force communicated that Ben actually went airborne before hitting the ground. She gave a new meaning to the term "getting kicked out of the bed" for Ben.

The male was on the ground and wheezing, clutching his chest where it felt as though he had cracked most of the bones under his skin. A satisfied giggle was heard followed by Delaney pulling the covers back over herself. "Then sleep on the floor," was her final punctuation.

Ben closed his eyes and tried to sleep off the pain he was experiencing.

 **Ha! Made you guys think this scenario was gonna get dirty.**

 **...Okay, so what if I am going to make it dirty next time. This one wasn't! Ha!**

 **Arthenius**


	14. A Bunny's Plan

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I couldn't help myself. I started writing this chapter as soon as I posted the last one.**

The first lights of morning were just beginning to usher in a new day. Taillow and Pidgey could be heard chirping pleasantly, signaling that dawn was beginning to break. The two inhabitants of the city who weren't quite like the rest of them hadn't gone to bed more than but an hour or two ago.

Ben woke groggily and regretfully to find himself on his back. The girl who had forcibly removed him from the bed last night stood above him, one foot on either side of his chest and staring down at him with her hands on her hips. The air around him informed Ben rather immediately that he was still fully nude. Both of his hands went immediately to cover himself, which he could barely manage despite the distance between his pinky and his thumb being roughly a foot, his hands obscenities of body parts.

She was drowning down at him, like she was trying to figure something out. "Uhh, can I help you," the awkward male beneath her half joked from his low vantage point. She had put her clothes back on, likely for his sake considering she had told him that her society didn't wear clothes all but one day of the year.

"Why do you get erect when you sleep," she bluntly asked of him, holding no regard for his personal boundary lines. Ben blushed immediately. That would be that not only had she watched him sleep, she had also stated at his crotch for an extended period of time. "I don't know! Get off of me!" His reply was hasty and uncomfortable.

She watched him for a moment or two before moving a few steps back to allow him to gather himself to his feet. He looked left and then right and spied his robe, and so he made his way in that direction but was stopped by the sound of Delaney's voice: "Wait." He paused, turning to look at her. She crossed the few feet to him, folding her arms together under her bust and looking him up and down. "I'm going to cure you of your shyness with your body," she informed him.

Ben laughed and shook his head, picking up his robe with one hand whose wrist immediately was held in place by the rabbit Pokemon Anthro. He was still unaccustomed to how quickly she could move. It was unsettling. "I wasn't asking you," she said with a lower tone that said that she meant business. Ben felt his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. He let the robe fall to the floor, considering it was clear that she would have her way if she wanted it. "If I'm going to be naked anyway, I'd like to take a shower," Ben proposed hopefully.

Delaney thought this over for a second and then nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's do that." She released his hand and walked in the direction of the door to the bathroom, which opened at her presence. She turned to look and see him still in the same spot. "I meant me, not you," Ben rephrased. Delaney nodded. "You're going to as well. We're going together," she replied casually. Ben stayed where he was for a moment longer before hesitantly following behind her and then passing her to enter the bathroom. She did so as well, locking the door behind them with her fingerprint. That made him a little nervous.

Delaney instructed him to turn on the water, and he faced the shower. There was another touchscreen here, obviously waterproof. He wondered what happened to all of this technology when his race had been removed to go to this "Neverland" or whatever it is he had been told of, as it all seemed to have devolved. The displays were rather simple to comprehend, so despite not being familiar with the tech Ben could rather easily figure out how to turn the water on. With one hand, the other still covering himself as best he could, he adjusted the red/blue slider until the water was hot but not scalding.

He turned around just as Delaney had her knees together, shimmying down the bootyshort-cut clothing she wore on her lower half. Her top was already gone, and in the significantly better lighting, Ben could make out that his previous perceptions of her bust were accurate. He found his gaze dropping steadily anyway, however, to watch her finish pulling down her shorts. He followed them all the way to the floor until she stepped out of them and moved them aside with her foot.

Then he took her in without the hinderance of her clothing, particularly her bottoms. There was a similar pattern to her fur as was with her butt and her boobs, where as it approached the epicenter, the fur thinned out and grew to a lighter color. His eyes traced over her legs from bottom to top, and it was at this moment he realized what beautiful long legs he had previously neglected she had. His gaze reached the gap between her thighs and he shifted it to her crotch. She stood shamelessly as he objectified her, even moving her feet away from each other slightly in a bit wider a stance to spread her legs ever so slightly. The increasingly light and increasingly thin fur continued all the way to, but not over, her sex. Thin pink lips sitting neatly on either side of each other seemed to be accentuated by the coloring of her fur, as though it was designed to draw attention. Perhaps it was, to attract a mate, which it damn sure did. Ben felt like he was going to have a nosebleed.

Ben's attention was brought away only at the sound of her clearing her throat, and his eyes rose to hers as she smiled broader, ears perking up as she asked, "ready?" Ben stole another look at her body before giving a nod.

 **It's entirely possible I'll have the next chapter out before the end of the night. It's also entirely possible that I won't. Just saying. That's why it's short.**

 **Arthenius**


	15. (Smut) Getting Dirty and Clean

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **I'll be the first to admit that this wasn't my idea before it was anyone else's. What you're about to read is actually 90% two hentai clips I saw and 10% my personal spin on it.**

 **But damn do I like this scene.**

Delaney looked over him after he gave his confirmation that he was, in fact, ready, and her facial features twisted slightly into a frown. Ben frowned back in confusion, the two looking like nudist crime scene investigators staring at each other. The male's gaze followed the females to either of his hands, which still were placed protectively over the top of his own private area. The furry girl's arms crossed in front of her under her breasts, elevating them and pressing them together slightly which made them look all the bigger and more appealing.

"You're not going to give up on that, are you..." She wasn't looking at him, instead looking at his hands and chewing on her lip. She wasn't talking to him either, which was apparent due to the quiet and thoughtful tone of her muttering. Because of this, she didn't get a reply. In place of a reply, Delaney, after looking around for a second or two, gave herself a nod and declared "yes, that will work just fine." Her attention was placed back properly on the human in front of her. "Close your eyes." Ben shot her a cautious look, hesitating for a moment before doing as he was instructed, his body tensing instinctively. He still hadn't forgotten about her little feat last night of removing him from the bed, and neither had the two bruises on his body.

Ben heard the door to the bathroom open, and as if on cue, as soon as his eyes were about to follow suit of the door, he heard "keep your eyes closed or else~" coming from the opening in a singsongy tone, though it still, at least he believed, carried with it the same weight it would have if some mugged had a knife to his throat. There was a moment or two of silence for the male before he heard the soft footsteps crossing from the carpet and into the tile of the bathroom.

When he felt the soft paw landing on his left shoulder, he flinched preemptively, but the crushing grip or unseen strike never came. Instead, he felt himself being rotated, so he used either foot to assist in turning himself where the girl behind him wanted him to face. When this stopped, there was a flurry of motion whose speed was overwhelming, not giving him ample time to react. Both of his hands were quickly and forcefully, yet also somewhat carefully so as not to hurt him, wrenched behind him. He was aware of something wrapping around his wrists when he opened his eyes and looked behind him. "What the fuck are you doing," came the perfectly fair question from the surprised male. What the fuck she was doing, however, needed no response from her, as he could clearly see for himself: she had taken the ropelike length of fabric from his robe and had tied it tightly around his wrists to bind them behind his back.

"I know letting go of what you're accustomed to is difficult, even hard enough that you potentially wouldn't do it," came the explanation of the girl who had one hand on the right not holding his wrists to one another, "so the logical thing to do is not give you the option." His eyes lifted from his hands to the face of the individual behind him who seemed all-too satisfied with herself. Ben chewed the insides of his cheeks nervously, and then looked away.

"Alright, let's get you all cleaned up then." She was remarkably cheery, her demeanor rivaling that of the Chancey who had checked them in. She opened the door to the little cubicle-esque structure which housed the shower head, guiding him in and facing him into the water, which was producing steam in the room and fogging up both the glass shower door and the mirror which covered most of one wall. He looked at himself in the mirror, the clouded and disfigured reflection looking back at him appearing pitiful. The water did feel nice, however, and he needed a shower to cleanse himself of all of the stress he had been experiencing- even if the act itself was causing him most of it.

"Now I have a couple theories for why your kind is so uncomfortable being undressed in front of anyone else," she started. She was behind him, talking into his ear almost. She had released him from her grasp, but he was still stuck with his hands behind him. Delaney reached past him to a small shelf jutting out of the interior wall of the shower, squirting a bit of the shampoo from a small bottle into her hand. She worked it to a gentle lather while she continued. "The first of which is that you're shameful of yourself." He felt both of her hands reach to the top of his head and plant in his hair. She didn't have claws or nails that he had seen, but apparently they were retractable as he felt something relatively sharp when she scrubbed his scalp with the shampoo. His eyes closed. He had to admit, that was rather relaxing, like a massage. Silence ensued for about a quarter minute as the shower head sprayed countless amounts of warm water onto the male's front, which only splashed onto the bunny girl behind him.

After the period of silence, though, her hands left his head and found his sides near his chest, and she pulled him back slightly and against her body. His upper body was forced to become flush with hers, and she moved her feet and her hips forward in order to derive the same result from their lower bodies. He could feel the soft fur and skin of her sex against his butt. His hands were pressed up against the inside of her thigh. He instinctively moved to step forward but she held him in place. He got the message. Even when she let go, he didn't move.

"But I've seen you relaxed and I've seen you aroused," her voice was a whisper, and he could feel the fur on her face against his hair as she spoke directly into his ear, "and I can assure you that you have nothing to be ashamed about." While she giggled behind him, Ben's cheeks reddened even more than they were as a result of the water temperature. She put her hands on his hips. Then, by pressing her body forward into his, Delaney encouraged him to walk forward. The water passed over his chest and face and then remained on his head when he was stopped again. He obediently moved back a half step into her figure. She moved her hands up to his head again, and a similarly calming massage was received as she worked the suds from his hair, running down his body and onto the floor of the small space they shared, receding into the drain to not be heard of again.

Once she was satisfied by her work, she reached past him again and opened the cap on a bottle of body wash. After emptying some of the contents into her hand, Delaney used her other hand on his arm to move him back all the way until droplets of water were bouncing off of his feet, catching a bit of light as they danced in the air before diving back to join the small pool which tilted down and drained through the hole in the floor.

"Second is that you are unnerved by what you don't know," she continued after the period of quiet. Her voice had dropped an octave, now developing more depth and husk. It made Ben's stomach twist in a knot more intricate than even the best of sailors could tie.

What made his breath catch, however, was feeling her hands on him so suddenly. Both of them rested gently along either of his triceps. As it got wetter her fur felt increasingly soft. Her fur-clad hands made their way from their starting position toward each other at the top of his back, massaging his neck for a few seconds before moving and doing the same to either of his shoulders. The amount of force she was capable of conjuring with her hands, despite how gentle they appeared, was fantastic. Ben's head lolled forward, hanging down as he enjoyed her touch. He'd never had a deep-tissue massage, but he assumed this was what it was like. Soap suds were left behind, as not only was she cleaning him, but she was also delivering relief to his aching muscles. Her touch in every area was short-lived, however. "I would guess this, though," she continued, and an incredibly relaxed Ben was forced to delve through his recent memories so he could recall what preceded this. "Isn't correct, after seeing how you were defiling me with your eyes." She pressed her hips forward and thus moved him back under the stream of water to rinse him off, simultaneously pumping more of the shower gel into her hands and speaking to him. When she pulled him back out of the water, he felt the thin fur on her face against him, her lips actually making contact with his ear a few times as they moved. "You knew what you were looking at. You knew exactly what you would do to me, didn't you? If this situation was reversed?" Her teeth closed on his earlobe gently, giving a slight tug before releasing it. "Right?" Her tongue traced over the abused area of skin as she waited for a reply. A nod was sufficient.

Once she got her answer, she wrapped her left arm tightly around his body at his ribs, pulling him even closer to her body. The curves of their bodies meshed with one another. Her action was a little rougher than she had been with him up until that point. He felt some pressure on his ribs from where she was squeezing him. Some air was forced from his lungs. She leaned into him, angling her body so her breasts were pressed firmly into his back. He could easily feel that the little brown mounds he had seen earlier crowning her boobs were now hardened to the point that he felt as though rocks were being pushed against him. A small, grunt-like noise of unease escaped Ben.

"The most likely reason," her monologue progressed, still in his ear, "is that you don't get touched enough." A shiver ran down Ben's spine. Delaney's right hand reached around him and rested on his left pectoral muscle, moving in circular motions over it. The feeling that she was washing him had disappeared. She was just... Rubbing him, feeling him up for the sole reason of her own personal pleasure. The soft, furry hand traced across to his other muscle before running up to his head, thumb raking his cheek for a moment before moving back down. Her fuzzy cheek was against his own now, moving back and forth against it. "Mmm..." Her upper body moved up and down slowly, rocks of nipples tracing along his back. His hands, which were still on her thigh, felt heat coming from between her legs. The term 'in heat' pinged for a moment as he recognized a possible reason for the name. Her retaining arm, her left, moved from his ribs up to his chest. Her fingers splayed out across his abdomen, fingertips gently depressing his skin.

"If you don't indulge in yourself and in others, you start to develop this... Sexual tension." She drew out the last two words, lacing them with seductivity as she spoke them into his ear. Her hand moved down his front, stomach contorting underneath her touch. Breath entered his lungs in a gasp. He was sweating slightly, steam continuing to fill the little space. Her hand took an unexpected detour, her right running down along the right side of his body and onto his leg. She squeezed his thigh tightly, which was caused for an involuntary twitch. Her eyes were closed, but she could envision his reaction. She had a smile faintly on her lips.

"So the only logical cure is for me to help you get rid of all that sexual tension," she concluded. Her hand lifted off of his body, only for him to feel it again. Making contact barely enough for his perception, the fur on her right hand rubbed up and along his member, which by this point was harder than Ben had ever been in his entire life. Ben's head leaned back into the girl who was a handful of inches taller, the crown of his head resting in the crook of his shoulder, and he heard himself whimper. Delaney, in response, giggled quietly. Her lips found the cheek of the male, pressing against it briefly before being gone again.

The bunny girl abruptly pinched the under and over side of Ben's head between her thumb and forefinger, causing him to cry out in surprise and alarm. She pulled down on it until the resistance it provided was too strong for her to continue without injuring him, and then she placed her hand upon the upper portion of Ben's shaft, as her hands were small despite being capable of so much, and he was 'a rather well-endowed boy,' as Delaney thought to herself. Her thumb rested on the top of his head, pressing down gently with the furry digit which tickled his skin and provided extra stimulation, moving it in wide and slow circles around the head. Ben's features flushed completely red and his jaw dropped a little, a ghost of a moan carrying out of his mouth.

Delaney giggled again, and she released him with her left arm. She knew he wasn't going anywhere, and he knew it too. He was completely and entirely captivated by the girl. Her left hand found his right behind his back, working his middle finger free and into an extended position. She took ahold of it by the portion where it connected to her hand, and she moved both her hips and his hand to direct that one straight finger between her legs. She placed it between her lips parallel to them, and moved it up and down slowly, sliding the digit along. He was coated, excessively, even, by her love juices. "Feel how wet you made me? Have you ever made a girl this wet before?" Her lips found the side of his neck, and she produced a seal around them, sucking on the skin. She moved his hands up and out of the way in case he started getting brave: she didn't want him touching her.

Using his binding to hold onto, she sat down on the floor Indian-style and pulled him down and into her lap, which he did without resistance because his legs had turned to a gelatinous state. She rested his hands on her midsection behind him and wrapped her left arm around him in addition to her right. "My, my, you're such a big boy... I think I need _both_ hands to deal with our little situation here." She placed her left hand underneath her right like a totem pole, about an inch apart. She silently marveled at the fact that even with both hands and the spacing she didn't cover him from base to the beginning of his head. He was throbbing in her hands with anticipation. She looked over his shoulder and saw precum was slipping out of the top, running down his head and, as she looked, had just reached her hand. "You poor, horny little thing," she whispered with pity. "You're probably suffering. Let's fix you up as quick as we can, alright?" A nod from the male who had decided to do so subconsciously, eyes closed. He was completely at her mercy, and that was just the way that she wanted him.

For a moment, her right hand released him and opened. She placed her now-open Palm on the top of his head, and he felt some of the precum get in her fur. She didn't mind, however, because she was going to be showering next anyway. Instead, she rubbed the stuff onto the surface of his head, then reached back between them. She placed her hand between her legs, whimpering as she did so as she was aroused to the point of hypersensitivity, and coated along her fingers some of the small puddle of her own personal arousal that had collected, which she spread up and down his shaft as a lubricant, which twitched in response. Ben was beard, then, panting beside her in an effort to contain himself.

Delaney grabbed hold of him with both hands, then, and kissed his cheek a second time before whispering for him to "just relax, let me take care of everything." Her hands twisted slowly in opposite directions of each other on his rod, such that the heels of her palms ended up in line with each other when she was done. She then reset her hands and began the process over again. She noticed Ben's body rocking forward and back into her in tune with the rhythm of her work. She paused for a moment and dragged her thumb up over and then down his head again before continuing on, speeding up the process the second time around. "Tell me, isn't this much nicer than just gawking at me?" She seemed to have forgotten the reason that she _told him_ for why this was all happening, but Ben didn't notice. He was focused on just getting out a syllable or two, "A-ahh..." between his breaths. She kissed against his neck again.

Once Delaney was through with her current strategy, she took her bottom, left hand off, and instead placed that against his pelvis, pulling him more tightly to her body. Her right hand formed an "o" shape with her fingers and thumb, and she positioned it over the top of his shaft. She moved it down, pulling on the skin of his head as she descended to a choir of grunts of a mixture of pain and pleasure. Once she got to the bottom, she loosened her grip to where she was still making contact with the "o" her hand formed, but it didn't pull on him when she moved her hand back up to his head and then back down. She was slow only for one or two strokes, then became impatient and picked up the pace. Closing her hand slightly so it now did pull on him enough to achieve the full stimulation. Ben's back arched, a louder moan escaping him. "Don't be afraid to finish when you feel it coming. Just let it all out, I promise I won't mind." She looked to Ben's face contorted in pleasure for a moment before back to her work. She now moving up and down along the mammoth length as quickly as her hand could possibly allow.

It took only seconds of this before Ben cracked. His body lurched suddenly and his hips tried to buck into her hand but were stopped by her other hand on his pelvis. Delaney's expression turned to one of delight as she watched his fluids fly into the air an inch or two before landing in the water, his abdomen, her hands, and his legs.

Delaney had slowed down, waiting for more and eventually came to a stop when no more presented itself. She looked to the panting male who was still clenching his teeth together in concentration and her eyebrows knitted themselves into a frown. "You're holding back still," she stated with an accusatory tone. She sighed. Delaney sounded annoyed. "You're not going to impress me with your longevity right now, so you might as well just get everything out." Ben was unresponsive. "Fine," came her response to his nonverbal reply.

She took her other hand off of his pelvis, instead putting that under her right hand as she had done initially. Without warning or buildup, she clutched him tightly in her grasp and pumped viciously. A high pitch squeak of surprise was elicited from the male. The muscles in Delaney's arms tightened as she worked him in a pistoning motion as fast as she could. "If you're not going to be an adult about this," she spoke through gritted teeth into his ear, "I'll just milk it out of you."

The pulsing coming from Ben's member in her grasp was not a good sign for how much longer the male had left. He gasped, and that gasp was cut off by even another gasp, and he bit down firmly on his bottom lip. Delaney noticed this and grinned. "There you go. It's almost over, just let go..." was heard by the male with his eyes closed. The bunny girl watched his facial expressions intensely and payed close attention to him in her hardworking hands, waiting for that cue that he was done. She redoubled her efforts, being even more forceful with each tug, and it was then that Ben's mouth opened in another gasp. The Anthro immediately pulled down hard with both hands, and with a surge of unbottled energy he finished a second time. He came much harder this time, the initial blast powerful enough that it landed in the fur on Delaney's jawline under her cheek, sticking in said fur. Waves of the stuff came on a steady interval, and the furry girl pulled down with her right hand each time, her left hand having disappeared to massage his balls and get every last drop out of him.

Ben was panting heavily, his chest heaving with each breath he took as though he had just run a marathon to cool down from having participated in a triathlon. Delaney tilted her head to the side, ears perking up. "Oh come on, surely you have more in you than that." Ben looked at his accuser incredulously. She wasn't looking at him, though. Instead, she was looking down along his body at all of the spots where cum had landed. Using her right hand, she scooped up some on one index finger, bringing it to her mouth. "You know," she said, casting a sly glance in his direction. "In many cultures, this stuff is considered a delicacy." She held eye contact with him as she stuck out a tiny, pink tongue and, using the tip of it, licked the fluid off of her finger. Afterward, for show, she moved her head forward to envelop the digit in her mouth, sucking on it for a moment and making noises to demonstrate just how much she was enjoying herself, before pulling it out again, a thin strand of drool linking her lip and finger catching the light before being broken.

She put both hands on his member again, which was incredibly sensitive after just having been put through two orgasms, working in a very slow and gentle up and down motion. "Surely you have a little more for me?" The incredibly red faced human in her lap watched her stick her bottom lip out and start pouting. "Please?" He closed his eyes and his no reply was interpreted as a yes. She smiled and smooched his cheek yet again, then stopped moving her hands.

"Here," she proposed politely, "I'll stay still and you move your hips. Just fuck my hands, okay?" Her tone was a lot more light and almost sounded as innocent as she looked. Ben didn't want to, but he wasn't going to deny her either. So when she placed her fuzzy, wet little soft hands right above his dick, he did as he was instructed.

While he couldn't help but enjoy her taking advantage of him with her hands as she had done, he also still felt unsatisfied. Sure, it was great and erotic for her to give him a handjob, but he found himself greedily desiring more. Because of this, when he moved his hips up, it wasn't gentle or slow as Delaney had anticipated. The male was in a lusty frenzy, burying his rod inside of her hands and pulling out again with as much force and speed as he could muster. It was clear that he wasn't thinking about their situation any more. Delaney didn't have to be told that in Ben's mind it wasn't her hands that he was thrusting into, it was between her legs or into her mouth. She couldn't process how she felt about this, but it did cause some of her hair to stand on end.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when his pelvis hit her bottom hand on an especially hard and deep thrust, and he looked to see him finishing for the third time since they had entered the shower together. He grunted as he did so, releasing somehow more of the delicious juices than Delaney had previously thought possible, even more than last time. Most of it landed on his chest or her hands. She waited until he had 'pulled out' and rested his butt back in her lap before she brought her hands to her mouth, devouring the tasty excrement like her life depended on it, then wrapping her arms around Ben in a soft hug. He was exhausted, she could tell.

"I'm going to be milking you like this frequently," she told him with a smile. He didn't have a say in the matter. Not that he would have said anything anyway. He was barely conscious after all that physical exertion. Delaney just giggled and got out from under him. She walked a step or two in front and then turned to look at him. She reached down and scooted his back up against one of the interior walls, then quickly took a shower. A very low-functioning Ben barely processed that she was unusually skilled at getting cum out of her fur. Once she was clean, she reached behind him and unbound him, telling him to get cleaned up and she would see him in a minute. She left the bathroom after toweling herself off, but she brought the towel with her back into the bedroom/living area, closing the door behind her.

She set the towel down on the bed, and then lay down on the bed with her thighs to her stomach on the towel. She was trying to play it off in Ben's presence, but she was so horribly, undeniably horny as a result of their little escapade, she couldn't think straight. She knew Ben would be out soon, but she _needed_ to have a release of her own. She had no choice. One hand found her breast, the other moving between her legs.

Hoping that she had time before Ben would see her like this.

 **I hope you guys enjoyed my personal fantasy. Especially considering I skipped like... Three classes today to write it, and I had a boner most of the day. So yeah. Make sure to review.**

 **Arthenius**


	16. Day Planning

**My fellow Arthenians:**

 **Sorry about the long stretch of inactivity. Legal stuff and school stuff and baseball stuff has been getting in the way, and I haven't had much time to myself. I know I promised the next upload I had would be the last GGP chapter, but that's going to be 99% smut and, considering I can only write on the school computers, I don't think that's something that I should be composing. So here's the next ZTS chapter. IDK how long it is, but uh. Here ya' go.**

Ben was already both emotionally and physically drained, and he hadn't even been presented with the opportunity to think about breakfast yet, much less eat it. In fact, food was the last thing on his mind as he sat in a daze on the shower floor. He wondered how long he had been sitting there, nonmoving, and he wondered if he was going to wake up at some point in his own bed, or perhaps in a straitjacket in an asylum.

He took a deep breath. Not to prepare himself to do anything special, but rather just to break free from the rut he had established so that he might be able to move at some point. The disruption in his breathing rhythm assisted in slowly bringing him back to reality, slowly freeing him from the hypnotic spell of not only the feeling but the sound of the warm water washing over him and bouncing off of the shower floor.

Our protagonist took in his surroundings objectively, in the sense that he was becoming slowly aware of what the hell was actually going on. He hadn't the energy for… What does one even call what had just happened to him? His first thoughts pointed to the word rape, but every fiber of his body denied not just the label but the application of it in his specific situation. What, then? Misunderstanding was the next word to come to him, but as he reflected on the past however long it had been, he decided that, at least after a while, they had both fully understood what they were doing. He was unsure what he would tell his journal had happened.

He blinked a few times to refocus his eyes, which gave a painful retort as they had grown accustomed to staring blankly at the neutral-colored interior shower wall. His neck turned, rotating and bending to either side to crack itself, eliciting a sigh of pleasure and relief from the human. With that sigh, he felt as though he had finally returned to himself. He brought his hands in front of him, massaging his wrists thoughtfully; they didn't actually hurt, but the similarity to handcuffs the tie to his robe had posed created phantom aches there.

As he looked down at his hands, he noticed something all over his thighs and stomach. What the hell was... Oh. Yeah. Right. He wasn't sure if he should have been disgusted or amazed by the sheer amount, but one way or another it made him feel dirty in more ways than one.

Ben put his hands down on either side of his body, pressing his weight into them and gradually bringing himself to a stand. He directed his attention afterward to the body wash that immediately brought up memories and emotions that he didn't have the mental capacity to process at the moment, putting enough in his hand that he could potentially clean himself with, getting to work removing the proof that he hadn't just dreamed, nightmared, or fantasized the entire ordeal.

Once he had sufficiently cleaned himself, he stepped out of the shower and turned off the water, grabbing for a towel and beginning to dry himself off (head to toe, as is customary). He looked to the door. At some point, he was going to have to walk through that and face Delaney again, at which point he would also be forced to discuss what had occurred and how they were going to move past it, hell, if they were going to move past it. The white towel wrapped around his leg as his weighed the pros and cons of having a nymphomaniacal bunny girl for a travelling companion.

He held the towel out in front of him a little, looking down at it in an examinatory fashion. Should he even bother with decency at this point? Did he have any left that would warrant him wasting the effort of covering himself? His thumb traced across the cheap white cloth of the towel, his brows furrowing in thought. He decided to wrap the towel around himself like a normal human being. Not about to let one...incident change the way he lived his life. In fact, he got an idea of his own about how to repay her for her...generosity. Well. He had more than one idea, but solely one that he had the courage to act upon.

The sound of the bathroom door opening and the concomitant entrance of Ben caused for Delaney to look up and meet his gaze as he walked into the room. One of her tall ears, upon his arrival, drooped down over her face and covered part of her right eye like a rebellious group of stray hairs falling from one's bangs. She was propped up on the bed, the middle of her back and up supported by two pillows stacked on top of one another. Her right hand was behind her head with her elbow bowed out to the side, and her left hand was hovering slightly above the bed and clutching the remote control for the television loosely. "I was starting to think that you had gotten sucked down the drain," she mused to him casually. The comforter was folded neatly at the foot of the bed, but the sheets were drawn over the furry girl's body up to her armpits. The TV was quietly droning commentary on some big fight.

A shrug came from the male, and he went in pursuit of his robe as he gave his response: "I haven't had a shower in far too long. It felt good." He grabbed the neck of the brown fabric with his hand that wasn't holding his towel onto his body (perhaps a little too securely), and he paused when his fingers closed around it, his thoughts going to the ropelike stretch of fabric that held the garment closed when he wore it. What had happened to it when she had finished using it as makeshift handcuffs...?

"I told you it would feel good if you stopped being such a baby about it." The teasing tone brought him back from his speculation, his gaze coming to fall on hers again. He licked his lips a little, which had spontaneously begun to feel unrealistically dry. He sat on the end of the bed with his back to her slightly, angled so she was directly to his left. "Yeah. We need to talk about that," he started quietly, his eyes finding a section of the carpet floor and staying there.

"No, we don't," was the reply he got before he could even manage to continue speaking. A frown was drawn across Ben's features as his head turned to Delaney. "Stop trying to overanalyze. What's happened has happened, and there isn't anything you can do about it. Focus on the future." He continued to stare at her with his confused and somewhat irritated expression. She met this stare with a blank one of her own.

"We can't just pretend that never happened, Delaney. How can we ever look at each other the same-"

"Do you think that I'm ever going to look at the world the same way again?" Ben was caught unawares when the Lopunny cut him off. He lost his train of thought, and before he could go looking for it she continued and he listened. "My entire village was just run off by Arceus knows what, Ben. I might never see anyone I know ever again, and now I've been pulled against my will into this religious pilgrimage you're on. I'm more than happy to help you, but in doing so I've given up everything that I ever knew. Sometimes it's better to move forward even without knowing what's behind you. Don't make such a big deal out of something so small. Maybe think about someone else for a change."

Ben resisted the urge to jump out of a window. He had had enough schooling to know that she'd just thrown him a red herring because she didn't want to talk about what he wanted to talk about. The only problem was, if he ignored what she had just said and continued, he would be a textbook example of a douche. "So let's move toward the future," she concluded. Ben leaned his head forward and looked at the bed with a sigh, giving her a "fine".

"So what are we going to do today, O' great redeemer?" What were they going to do today? Oh, right. That was one thing he actually was ready for. "Today we're going to try to look a little less like societal pariahs," Ben informed the rabbit girl as he stood up and off of the bed. He went to drop his towel, then stopped and turned around to face away from her. Casting a glance over his shoulder at her faux-boredly raised eyebrows before taking off and tossing aside his towel. He was overly aware of her lingering eyes as he pulled on his robe, looking again for the tie. He turned around to find one of her fingers pointing at a towel rack on the front of the bathroom door, from which it hung, mostly dried. He gave an appreciative nod and tied it around himself.

Delaney obviously needed a little more clarification. "What does that entail, exactly?" Her right hand moved up from the back of her head and along the length of her ear. Ben turned around with an uncharacteristic grin. "It means we need to go shopping."


	17. An Interesting Shopping Experience

**Yeah, I'm doing a ZTS update. Yeah, it's been a while.**

 **This chapter, as I didn't have the time to write it all myself, was co-written with a personal friend of mine. Some of the content is not mine, and I apologize for the quality if it is sub-par. She won't see any reviews, so if you don't want me to do this in the future, please don't hesitate to mention it, but know that the upload speeds might be a little slower.**

The sun had already begun slowing in its approach of its zenith point, nearing the highest portion of its journey, when the two set out from their hotel room. They, together, cast an appreciative smile in the direction of the Pokemon working the desk, a different one from when they had come in, one who probably had no idea that one of those people were staying in one of the rooms. Said Ampharos gave them a less-than-friendly death glare as they walked out, electricity crackling odiously from it in audible fashion. Picking up their pace, the two pilgrims headed out and into the world.

Much more friendly and inviting was the city during the day than was it during the night. Neither of them were entirely certain what they were looking at. Ben had, obviously, grown up in a metropolis, and so was likely to recognize one's characteristics, but couldn't fit them with the obvious Pokemon influence. Delaney, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. As they wandered the much less terrifying streets, they couldn't help but notice that they were catching a number of odd gazes. Some of the looks said "Wow, look at them," others "What the fuck are those," and others still grumbled with a southern accent "Not in my town". Delaney took a step closer to Ben, falling into his exact stride as though he was a security blanket. Ben, who was hoping that she could be such for him, looked to her uneasily and kept walking.

After a few minutes of wandering and an uncomfortable exchange with a less-than-pleasant Snubble to get directions, the party reached their desired destination: a department store. The sliding glass doors were marked with a big red target, which the two decided must have been the brand's identification. They had stopped out front to take a peek inside before actually entering, and so a Vigoroth who wasn't paying attention ended up all-too-literally knocking Ben flat on his ass. Instinctively, Ben cried out an indignant "Hey!" This enticed the normal-type into turning around, staring at the human male on the ground. He lumbered over, looming above the downed human before turning to Delaney. His lips turned upward in a sneer. "We don't like your kind around here," he said while grabbing hold of Delaney by the ears. An embarrassed, irritated blush rose to the bunny-girl's cheeks. While she was considered to be the most powerful in her little forest village, she didn't know whether or not she could hold her own around other rough-and-tumble Pokemon, and so she decided that it was probably in her best interest not to get involved with this douche.

It was at that moment that Ben, who had gotten up, moved back over in the direction of the two. He had watched the giant oaf grab Delaney, and he didn't like that one bit. Reaching out with both hands in what he considered to be a relatively forceful motion, he shoved the brute in the upper portion of his back near his shoulder. The white-furred beast didn't seem to notice the weak display of defiance, other than to turn his head slightly to look over his shoulder, then back to the bunny who he had entrapped in his claws. Hoisting her up by the ears, a few inches off the ground. He leaned in close, and Delaney could smell that he was all too familiar with the gum disease known as gingivitis. "You'd better keep your little pet on a leash, mutt." He smirked, as though that was the most clever thing that anyone had ever said in the history of both worlds, and then tossed her on her furry little ass a few feet back.

Ben wasn't familiar with the nomenclature of insults of this Pokemon world, but he was listening to some of the things that the crowd that had gathered was muttering under their breath, and was thankful to hear that the same terms that were insults in his world were also offensive here. He walked over to the pissed-off bunny girl on the ground, helping her up with one hand while he said, loud enough for the Vigoroth to hear, "Let's just go inside, Delaney. Clearly tiny-dick here is just trying to show off for his boyfriend." He hadn't actually noticed any other Pokemon in the surrounding area that he would identify as male, but he assumed that there had to be someone to whom that comment could be directed.

Almost visible was the steam that was radiating off of the Vigoroth, a byproduct of his excessively masculine appearance's jeopardization. He turned around, one claw raised, ready to absolutely slice to high heaven that slutty little bunny bitch and her dumb fucking human, but when he looked where he had heard the voice come from, the space was empty. Empty, that is, except for the ominous hovering black figure glaring at him. It took a few seconds before he actually managed to realize at what he was staring, and what was staring right back at him: Darkrai. If there is a level of shitting oneself in terror just below actually doing so, Vigoroth achieved that level at that moment. With wide eyes of terror, he backed up slowly, the crowd parting to make way for him. Once he cleared the ring of bystanders, he took off at a full, four-limbed sprint in the opposite direction. All eyes gradually turned from the asshole to Ben and Delaney. They didn't see the Darkrai… It was just… the two of them. Confused. "Come on Delaney," Ben muttered and tugged her by the hand into the department store.

It took longer than Ben had actually expected, but after a while Delaney came to realize exactly what it was that Ben had feared: Shopping was "Fucking amazing". Once the poor, innocent male had introduced the bunny to the concept, she went absolutely nuts. She dragged him back and forth across the store between clothing racks and fitting rooms for the next three hours, trying on this, looking at that, feeling these, admiring those. The only thing that kept Ben somewhat sane, however, was the trips to the fitting rooms. Ben had to be there at first to explain to her, of all things, the concept of underclothes ("Why would you wear clothes on top of clothes? That's just wasteful!"). But following, he accompanied her because, well…In her naïveté she took off every shred of clothing she had on in order to try on the next pair, and Ben had to admit that was something that he enjoyed. She even made him do the same a handful of times, dressing him up like he was her own personal dress-up toy or doll, which was another thing he didn't mind.

With clothes both on (Ben being choked to death in "Sunday's best," black dress pants, a white button-up, and a red bowtie; Delaney looking very comfortable and sporty in a neon-pink sports bra and black spandex shorts with a pink trim, both of which hugging her figure tight enough to be explicitly lewd and boast every curve of her womanly figure. There was no way any of it was actually her size) and draped over their arms, the two headed in the direction of the checkout counter, where a very bored-looking Mismagius dressed in a brown skirt, white blouse, and black sweater stared unblinking at them. Delaney, bubbly and excited, very pleased with their purchases almost bowled Ben over when he stopped abruptly and swore. "What," she questioned him, immediately concerned by the spontaneous deflation of his mood. He sighed deeply, dropping his head toward the ground and shaking it in disdain. Raising his arms up to either side in a gesticulation that communicated his distress, before dropping them again. "We still don't have any money," he replied, depressed. The bubble of Delaney's emotion popped as well. She dropping her bags to the floor. Ben draped his now-empty arm around her shoulders, turning her away from the checkout desk and starting to walk away. Something black moved in the periphery of his eye. "Maybe if we don't say anything, they'll let us wear these clothes out," he whispered in sad hopefulness.

"Did you two pay for those clothes?" The sound of the deep, masculine voice of a Machoke who was serving as a security guard made them both visibly flinch, stopping on a dime a few feet from the door. They looked to one another, debating whether or not they should just make a run for it. They were already apparent outcasts in this city, so why not fugitives? Delaney shook her head, and Ben sighed agreement. They turned and headed ignominiously for the checkout counter, eyes on the floor. Still feeling the eyes of the Machoke on them as they did so. "Then why don't you pick them up and get out of here?" Another callout from the fighting-type, in a slightly higher pitch? Another freeze. Confusion. They look together back to him. Was he wearing black the last time they had seen him, just a few moments ago? His arms were folded across his chest, watching them with raised eyebrows. Nodding toward their dropped bags.

Ben looked at Delaney. Delaney looked at Ben. Ben looked at Mismag- where did the Mismagius go? Delaney's ears folded in halves. Something didn't feel right about their situation, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "We should go," she whispered to her human companion, picking up some bags and motioning for him to do the same. They stalking silently past the Machoke by the door, shooting him a glance. He slowly produced a very disturbing-looking grin. They hurried out and back to their rented room.

 **Can you feel the mystery yet?**


	18. Ran out of Town

A very apologetic Prinplup, upon return to their room, had given them a map of the region, but had informed them that, due to managerial concerns, they could no longer occupy the building. He recommended that they head to a different city where what he had so vaguely and uncomfortably described as "their relationship", as well as what he very apologetically described as "their kind" would be more welcome. A red pen circle on one such nearby town on the map, Viridian City ( **NOTE: just using the name, no characters or characteristics** ). Disappointed yet understanding, the pair of pariahs changed into some clothes that would be comfortable to go a long distance in and walked out toward the forest, passing the sign that bluntly stated "City Limits".

Adjusting the backpack that he wore, which held minimal rations and the clothes that the two had gotten from their abnormal encounter in the department store, Ben exhaled, and moved his hands up to the back of his head, arms bowed out to either side as he walked. "Damn," he lamented to no one in particular, before turning his head slightly to look at Delaney. Her bag looked considerably smaller and lighter, a Pokemon Center logo on the back, containing supplies they would need to make camp at some point should they so need to. She turned her head to look at him, eyebrows raised. "You didn't think everything would go swimmingly for us, did you? We're not exactly the world's most welcomed groups." A small shrug came in response from the male, who looked at her for a few moments before turning back to the dirt path ahead of them.

Silence ensued, an awkward sort of vacuum of sound that only allowed through the noise of the surrounding forest; leaves crinkling under foot, bushes rustled as wild Pokemon stirred, the distant call of a fight or perhaps of mating. For the sake of filling the void, Ben spoke up again after a while: "That Vigoroth sure was a dick, wasn't he?" Delaney, who had been zoned out staring at the trail a few feet ahead of her, looked up suddenly, blinking once or twice before turning to him. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Some people just can't see past someone's race. It wasn't that we did anything to annoy him, other than just be what we are." A nod. More silence.

Then: "Why do you think he ran away like he did?" Ben frowned at the question. He wasn't entirely sure; in fact, he hadn't given it much consideration since the incident occurred. "I don't know," he admitted after a second or two. "He looked absolutely terrified, though. Maybe he saw something that we didn't?" Delaney shrugged her shoulders, her pack raising and lowering in accordance with her movements. Shortly afterward, she cracked a smile, sidestepping in toward him and nudging him gently. "Maybe he was scared of how big and tough you are," she joked with a smile also in her voice that ended up being contagious for Ben. He laughed and flexed, growling playfully and Delaney laughed as well.

It wasn't long after that, however, that the gap in conversation popped up again. Ben filled it: "He would have kicked your ass," he joked goodnaturedly. Delaney smirked, shaking her head. "I could have taken him," she assured him. She did, however, falter shortly after, looking to him before looking down. Her mood seemed to have deflated a little. "Why didn't you protect me," she asked quietly, eyes finding the ground again.

Ben's immediate reaction was to laugh, certain that she was joking. He even nudged her a little as she had him previously. He paused, however, when she looked at him. Her eyes, seemingly larger than usual and full of emotion, were focused on him; the color of her irises deepened as a result of the layer of moisture that was building up. He knew that she was about to cry, and so he acted immediately to try to defuse the situation.

Grabbing her by the arm gently, stopping her and him both, he turned her toward him a little. "Hey, I'm sorry. I thought you were kidding. You really thought I could have protected you from that cum-colored cunt?" A small twitch of the corner of Delaney's mouth as she fought off a smile. Taking it as a good sign, Ben pressed further. "I mean, did you see the size of that fucker? He would have torn me to shreds!" He smiled at her, and was confused when she frowned at him in response. He had let go of her arm at some point. "What," he asked, in the hopes that she could clear up some of his confusion.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Her face lifted. She was fighting back laughter, on the verge of absolutely losing it, obviously. This, of course, meant that it was Ben's turn to frown, his confusion even more intense than it had been. She shook her head, taking a moment to collect herself. Ben's arms folded across his chest, waiting for some type of explanation. "If you really are the person of prophecy," she began with grandiose gestures intended to be sarcastic. Ben seemed hurt by her implication that there was a possibility that he wasn't, but he didn't stop her. "Then you don't need to worry about getting your ass handed to you by some Vigoroth." Ben's eyebrows raised at this point. "With some training, it's prophesied that you'll be the most powerful being in all of both realms- minus Arceus, of course."

By the look on Ben's face, he didn't seem to be buying any of it. Delaney looked him up and down for a moment, then dropped her packs to the ground, a small puff of dirt rising up as it made contact with the earth. "Aright, let's do it then," she said matter-of-factly, reaching to the hem of her shirt and beginning to peel it off. Ben, who thought he knew all too well what she was intending to do, still not having processed the events of the last time she had her mind made up about something, took a few cautious steps back, watching her carefully. "C-can we not do that right in the middle of the woods?"

Delaney finished pulling her shirt over her head, a pink sports bra underneath covering her chest, hugging it to her body and pushing it upward slightly. She looked at Ben in a mixture of confusion and perhaps disgust, or maybe disappointment? "I meant fight," she spat bluntly. "Oh, right," he mumbled in embarrassment, wrestling his tee awkwardly off of his body after setting down his bags.

The sparsity of trees provided them with ample room to move about, and the gentle breeze that blew through every so often felt pretty good, despite it being somewhat cool outside still otherwise. Ben adopted what could loosely be considered a boxer's stance a few feet away from Delaney, who just stood and watched him. Something about the scrutinizing way that she was watching him made him rather uncomfortable. Ben was certain that the bunny girl had to be far his superior in fighting, but despite his doubts in her previous words, knowing that he was theoretically powerful brought him a small amount of comfort. "You can take and dish out a lot more damage here than you could in the Etherrealm," a voice in his head told him, "don't be nervous." Was that his own thought?

Delaney dashed forward abruptly, taking Ben by surprise. She brought her right fist low by her hip as she moved toward him, and as she neared brought it up and higher, aiming it directly for his left ribs. The human, no professional but certainly no stranger to fights, stepped back and out of the way, also swinging upward underneath Delaney's arm, taking advantage of the momentum. The additional energy on her swing rendered her briefly off-balance, and Ben took this opportunity when her guard was too high to defend against a quick enough attack, so Ben brought his knee up into her side.

If he had hit her gently, he wasn't aware of it. Regardless, Delaney didn't even flinch as his knee hit her in the side. Recovering herself, she struck him with a lightning-fast open palm strike in his sternum, sending him literally airborne a few inches and back several feet where he hit the ground. A skid actually occurred before he, the wind knocked out of him, fell back and onto his back. "What's the matter, Benny Boy?" Her taunts came from a point that was nearing him. "Afraid to hit a poor defenseless little girl?" He took in a deep breath through his burning lungs, then exhaled it and stood up. Delaney was wearing a satisfied smirk. Her ears, one upright and one bent forward in half, only added to her playful expression. "Or maybe you just hit like a pussy anyway," she continued with a small shrug.

With that Ben charged her, aiming to tackle her to the ground while her guard was somewhat down. Her hands moved off of her hips where they had been, now positioned in front of her and open slightly. It occurred to Ben that she hadn't intended to dodge, and that she was simply going to take the hit and transfer the energy back onto him. It occurred, however, a little too late, and Ben couldn't stop himself. Delaney braced herself, and Ben went to tackle her about the waist.

The pair moved in Delaney's direction for a solid foot or two as the energy from the hit was dispersed, but once all of the momentum was gone, it became merely a battle of strength. Ben was still holding Delaney around the waist in a sort of aggressive hug type of position, his face right by her cottontail, and Delaney's arms were over Ben's back, hands on his hips. They pushed against one another, not much ground being made in either direction. After a second or two a yawn was heard, from Delaney. Ben's face, already strained from the effort of trying to drive his opponent backward, twisted into a frown. "You're a lot weaker than I expected," she murmured, and abruptly lifted him in a hinge sort of motion, bringing his lower body upward and toward her head, dangling him. Once his feet were off the ground and all leverage was lost for Ben, he let go of his hold around her waist, flailing a little. "Fucking put me down!" Clearly irritated was the male. "Poor choice of words," came the female's rebuttal, and she dropped him on what would have been his head had he not tucked his neck up toward his shoulders. It still hurt like hell when he hit the ground on his back, however, and he grunted a swear quietly as he did so.

The bunny girl looked down at him, shaking her head. One of Ben's feet had landed on hers, so she moved it to the side a little and then stepped over his body. She knelt down, one knee on either of his biceps, and placed her ass on his chest. "You lose," she told him in a faux-empathetic tone, sticking out her bottom lip to mimic his disappointment. He glared up at her, wriggling from side to side under her, but found that he couldn't free himself. "I knew you were lying to me," he informed her in irritation. She raised her eyebrows, examining his facial expression for a moment before shrugging. "I wasn't lying. You just need more training," she retorted matter-of-factly. "Which means we're going to have to start doing this often," she continued. Placing her hands on his arm on either side of her knees, and then brought her legs down and along his body, kneeling now on either side of his ribs, keeping his arms pinned with her hands. "Great," he muttered sarcastically.

Delaney giggled, closing her eyes for a second and shrugging. "It could be fun. Who knows, if you win you might get a...reward," she speculated in a sultry tone, eyes opening and finding his again. He blushed, but didn't give any response. Delaney's giggles faded to a small smile, and she leaned in closer to his face, looking into his eyes. "But for now, I'll just claim my prize," she whispered. Ben's heart did a somersault as the bunny girl leaned in closer, pressing her lips gently against his, eyes closing in contrast to Ben's eyes, which were wide open in surprise. Her lips were soft and tasted like her breath smelled: some kind of sweet berry. A second passed and Ben decided to relax and enjoy it, his eyes closing about as hers opened and she pulled away.

She brought her right hand up and patted his cheek twice in a condescending manner, then got off of him and stood, all but bouncing over to her bags. "Come on, let's keep going. You can't just lay around all day, we need to get as much traveling done today as we can," she called back to him, bubbly.

The very confused and very red-faced male blinked, getting up and grabbing both of their shirts they had taken off and picking up his bags. He looked up to the bunny girl, who had already started off into the thicker part of the forest. "Wait up!" He called to her, moving to start a jog before stopping. Behind a tree, he could have sworn he saw something black move. As he looked closer, something rustled back behind a bush. He stared for a second before shaking his head, jogging after his companion. Day would only last a few more hours, but he knew it was going to be long. Even longer, he got a feeling, would be the night.


	19. Dark Visitor in the Dark

**Yes, you finally get to meet her this chapter. I'm not going to write too terribly much about her yet, because I want to get some feedback on the way that I'm developing her character, see if the way that she acts is the way in which you guys would like her to. Please review, people.**

Soon after the travelers' tussle, the first signs of the coming dusk began to show themselves on the horizon and in the air. Through the trees of the forest through which they wondered, the forest-native bunny girl seemingly a lot more comfortable in such than was her human companion, shone the deep oranges and reds and purples and yellows of the sunset. Two pairs of eyes had turned upward to watch the spectacle, a display that was so beautiful it could have been hand-painted by Arceus himself just for their enjoyment. A peaceful quiet hung in the air as the sun finished its decent into the night sky, replaced soon thereafter by a crescent moon.

Following the fall of night, Ben and Delaney decided to set up camp, finding a suitable area that was somewhat close to what appeared to be either a large pond or a small lake, whose surface reflected the sliver of the moon that peeked out from behind wispy clouds. The melodic tone of Delaney's soothing voice humming drifted toward Ben as he began setting up the tent, and he turned his head to see what she was doing. As he was pitching the tent, it turned out, she was sitting on a tree stump, her feet swaying to and fro gently. Her hands were running the course of her left ear, and the action was strikingly similar to watching someone comb their hair. This, Ben supposed, was probably due to the fact that he knew some Lopunny wore their ears as though it was indeed their hair. The soft the fur that covered her audits faded into the hue of her hair. Ben blinked a handful of times after realizing that he had been staring, entirely transfixed. He shook his head and turned his attention back to setting up camp.

Once the tent was pitched, the fire was lit, the spit was positioned over top of it, and the sleeping bags were rolled out inside of the fabric tepee, Ben stepped back with his hands on his hips and admired his work. The sudden lack of any noise caused for Delaney to turn around from where she was seated, and noticed that the camp site was sufficiently made. She gave a small smile, and a quiet word of thanks to her companion for setting up that which she had no interest in doing. Dinner was quiet and peaceful, the roasted Tepig that Delaney had all but effortlessly caught and killed surprisingly delicious, and very similar to the taste of bacon.

After they had both finished eating, Ben and Delaney spent a while sitting across from one another staring into the fire. Ben, at this junction, was clad in loose-fitting athletic shorts in which he intended to sleep, and Delaney had changed into, from what he could tell, a long sleeping shirt that came down to about her thighs, which she sat in like it was a dress to preserve her modesty, as it could be assumed that she didn't have anything on her lower half. Ben was genuinely surprised by her ladylike mannerism. The way in which the fire danced across her face, casting shadows across her elegant features as it bounced energetically from side to side drew Ben's attention. He found himself staring, again.

She had kissed him… Why had she kissed him? She had called their smooch her 'prize' for having defeated him in the would-have-been training exercise that she had forced him through, but what was the purpose of stealing a kiss from him? It occurred to him that it could be the working of some ulterior motive, like when she had- Ben blushed and smiled a little at the memory of their experience in the shower. The redness in his cheeks was unlikely noticeable due to the similar color cast off by the fire, so he allowed himself a little larger smile, knowing it would be his own secret that he had decided that he enjoyed the attention that the Lopunny anthro had given him.

But…What if it wasn't so superficial? While he was gradually coming to terms with the inner workings of this new world, this new home outside of the Etherrealm, it occurred to Ben that he still had little to know knowledge of the relationships between people and Pokemon as species. Was it possible that she was attracted to him? It could be a side-effect of his potentially being the Messiah the worlds have been waiting for, but somehow he felt that she wasn't the type to go after the big and important people just because they were big and important. Hell… was it possible that _he_ was attracted to _her?_ He knew already, having come to terms fully, that he was attracted to her physically. But what about on a metaphysical level? Was he capable, or even willing to pursue a relationship with someone of a different species, of a completely different world? Then again…this was _his_ world now too. There didn't seem to be any chance of going back unless he fulfilled whatever prophecy that Arceus had chosen him to be a part of.

Motion brought Ben back from his thoughts and he focused back in on the point which he had zoned out on: Delaney's nose. He blushed in embarrassment while assuring her that he hadn't been staring at her, and that he had just lost himself in his own thinking. Delaney smiled and nodded, assuring him that it was no big deal and that she had a tendency to do the same. An appreciative smiled was returned by the human, and this was followed by a nod of acknowledgement as well as a brief good night as Delaney said that she would be retiring. While he wasn't proud of it, Ben couldn't resist the urge to stare up the bottom of her shirt as she crawled into the tent. Her cute little cotton tail was peeking out of it, and he wasn't sure because the light faded by the tent, but she might have been wearing nude colored panties, but she might have been wearing nothing at all.

What had previously been a light, peaceful silence gradually became heavier after Delaney had gone to bed, and it occurred to Ben that, for all practical purposes, he was alone. He tried not to weird himself out, to keep himself from imagining noises and seeing movement where no such movement existed, but paranoia set in after not too long. He would have been able to uncomfortably assure himself that he was hallucinating had he begun seeing bushes rustle and trees lean in toward him all around him, but what made him nervous was more the striking simplicity of the pattern of hallucinations he was having. He saw movement in a straight line, as though something was sneaking through the brush surrounding the area in which they had made camp. Light flickered onto the bright green of the bushes every so often, but not enough to sufficiently illuminate it to reveal what was going on within. Ben could have sworn, however, that there was some kind of human or animalistic movement to the disturbances. He just couldn't shake the feeling. He leaned forward slightly, squinting at the place that he had seen the motion.

"Ben."

The sudden shattering of the quiet of the night made the human jump and almost cry out in alarm, but he managed to barely contain himself. The voice, the single word had come from somewhere to his left, a few feet away, just within earshot. The tone of the voice was a hushed whisper, one that was oddly familiar and that he believed at first might belong to someone he knew. After a few seconds of consideration, however, Ben realized that he didn't know the voice, just the accent. Or lack thereof, anyway. Listening to a Pokemon speak and interpreting it as English sounded funny to Ben. It was almost like hearing a nonnative speaker talk, one who knew the words and understood what they were trying to say but couldn't quite land something about the sentence; the inflection was off, the emphasis was on the wrong syllable, the pronunciation sounded hesitant. It was barely detectable and could be all but forgotten after having been surrounded by nothing but Pokemon for an extended period of time, but in comparison to a human it was never quite the same.

This voice, however, was almost certainly strikingly human, human male to be specific. When Ben turned his head, silhouetted against the dark of the surrounding treeline, seemingly unaffected by the light cast off by the fire and almost eerily and unnaturally dark was a figure, a humanoid- no. It was definitely human. Ben's chest suddenly felt tight, like he was having difficulty breathing. He hadn't come into contact with anyone of his own species since he had arrived in this world, and the possibility of doing so now was far too great a temptation to resist.

"Yes?" He whispered back, slowly rising from the log on which he had been sitting. He was slightly hunched over, staying in a somewhat athletic position just in case his safety was going to be compromised by this individual. He slowly drew near, only to see the figure concomitantly begin backing away. With a frown, Ben cast a gaze over his shoulder at the tent in which he knew Delaney would probably be fast asleep at this point, then followed, stepping through a bush that the shadow had seemed to phase through noiselessly, but yet rattled when Ben walked through it. An arm of the person beckoned toward him, encouraging him to continue following, to which Ben complied. He was led into a nearby clearing after a few minutes, and once he stepped into the middle of it, he realized that he had lost track of the person, and had only assumed that they hadn't turned. The covering of the trees, where it should have parted and provided ample natural light, was thick in this clearing, the branches of the trees surrounding the somewhat circular patch of grass reaching toward one another as though trying to take hold of one another.

Ben took in a deep breath, looking slowly around him, scanning the trees. Somewhere back behind where he had ended up, he could see the fire flickering faintly, and so he knew that he couldn't be too terribly far away from where he had originated. He was about to turn around and head back in the direction of the campsite, to chalk up this whole encounter as some stress-induced schizophrenic episode, when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

Pushing off of one of the trees closest to the clearing was a humanoid figure. It couldn't possibly have been the human that he was pursuing so fervently, partially because it didn't quite seem fully human, and partly because the human was male. This new silhouette, however, was strikingly, voluptuously female. The lighting available was at a minimum, but yet the figure was growing more evidently physically appealing as it drew nearer.

"Sorry I misled you," came a sultry voice that obviously belonged to the other individual. From the tone, however, she didn't sound very sorry at all. It sounded like she did something she would have regretted under different circumstances, but knew that it was in her own best interest. "I didn't think that you'd have shown up if a Dark type asked to talk to you all alone in the middle of the forest at night." Clearly, Ben had been correct about the figure belonging to a Pokemon.

Finally, the being drew near enough that Ben could perceive what it was. As though innately acquired knowledge was just surfacing for the first time, Ben instinctively knew that this creature whom he had never seen before was a Zoroark. The accents of red on her claws and throughout her flowing, silky hair were a dead giveaway. If it weren't for them, in fact, one could potentially mistake the Illusion Pokemon for a person, especially this one: She wore a full-length spandex bodysuit, one that unforgivingly hugged every contour of her body. A shred of moonlight, having fought its way through the canopy of branches above, reflected off of her modest-sized chest while she approached, drawing Ben's attention immediately. Once there, his eyes dragged slowly down and along her body, to the sashaying hips that seemed to move almost invitingly before back up to her eyes. It occurred to Ben that, based on his experiences with meeting new Pokemon as well as knowledge of the experiences of others, he was likely about to be killed, enslaved, or raped.

"I know what you're thinking, and no, you don't have to be concerned about your personal safety," she addressed him once she was within a comfortable range to speak with him. "Not your safety from me, anyway," she said more to herself than to him, eyes scanning the area behind him. Ben, however, was more interested in the Zoroark than was he what was going on behind her. He decided he was too quick to judge her species, as the missing muzzle and instead present normal human face could have easily implied that she was an anthro had he been paying closer attention.

While he had zoned out frowning at her, she had been looking him over. "So you're the fulfillment of the Prophecy?" She folded her arms over her chest, giving him the scrutinizing look that he had all but grown accostumed to. This continued for a few seconds before a shrug followed. "Whatever. Look, I'm on very strict orders from someone you aren't yet ready to meet, and I can't explain who or why. Not yet." She held out a hand that had the claws trademarked by her Pokemon half, in which there was a rolled up piece of paper. "Just take this. I've marked towns to go to, and I've marked towns to avoid. Abide by this map and you shouldn't fail our worlds."

Ben stared blankly after having taken what was apparently a map from the Zoroark. He had been thoroughly and completely confused a number of times since his Emergance, but this exchange certainly ranked up there on the list of weird things to have happen. "I have to go now. I'll keep in touch whenever I can. If you feel like you're being watched? You are. And not just by me." A pause. "Don't listen to thoughts that aren't yours." With that, the Zoroark turned and started walking away in the opposite direction of the camp site. "Don't follow me," she commanded over her shoulder, not even breaking stride. Ben found himself transfixed on the sight of the Dark type walking away. The skintight spandex provided little in the department of modesty. A slight blush rose to Ben's cheeks as he stared at the giant ass the Zoroark had. The tight material only accentuated it, making the perfectly bubbly butt look even more appealing.

But then he was alone again. With a map.

He looked down at the rolled-up map in his hand, blinking a few times. Was this...real? By far and away that was the most unlikely thing to have happened to him- since the Emergance, obviously. Maybe he was dreaming.

With a sigh, Ben shook his head and headed back toward camp. Upon arrival, he crawled into his sleeping bag, incapable of thinking of anything but the Zoroark. A cute, high-pitch noise came from the now-awake figure in the other sleeping bag. Now he had woken up Delaney.

Great.

 **Had to defer the end of this chapter to a colleague, so sorry if it's below par.**

 **Please R and R, especially to tell me what you like, dislike, and want to see added or changed about the minimal interaction with Zoroark before I start including her more heavily in these chapters.**

 **Arthenius**


	20. Kindling

Ben turned his head to the side slightly after having put himself to bed and heard Delaney coming to, looking over at her. She was huddled in her sleeping bag; rather than laying flat, she had adopted almost a fetal position, pulling her legs up toward her body and hugging them with her arms. The top of the bag came all the way up to her chin, and the tips of her ears were tucked underneath the fabric of it. There was a small, sleepy frown on her face, causing her features to wrinkle ever so slightly. The fire crackling quietly was the only sound heard as Ben waited to be addressed, and Delaney continued to wake up so that she would be able to speak, the two staring at one another silently until that point.

"It's really cold," Delaney said after a few seconds, rubbing her legs with her hands slowly in the hope that she would be capable of generating a little bit of friction. She was right, of course; the range of temperatures between the day and the night seemed to be drastically wide, with the noon sun cooking them and the midnight moon freezing them. Ben hadn't noticed until this point, as he had either been in front of the fire or distracted from his perception of the cold by confusing Dark-type Pokemon.

The human took pity on the bunny, and so after a moment of consideration he gestured toward the sleeping back he was laying on, rather than in, and told her "you can use my sleeping bag, if you'd like." He was certain that should she use both of their bags, while he would suffer hypothermia and be frozen solid by the morning, she would be able to sleep comfortably. Granted, there was a certain gender normality influencing his offer, a begrudging sort of dutiful thought pricking at his side, but he also genuinely wanted to help his friend because, well, he liked her.

Delaney, who was starting to wake up a little more, shrugging off her grogginess a little better and having somewhat usual cognitive function, raised her eyebrows at him. "Really? You'd do that for me? I would have thought it would make you uncomfortable." Ben shrugged. Sure, it would make him uncomfortable, but, again, her comfort he had decided, was more important to him. A monosyllabic expression of confirmation from him.

Following this, the bunny-girl smile and thanked him quietly, running her hands through over her ears and then through her hair before crawling out of her sleeping bag. The piercing night air hit her for a moment, and so she grabbed her bag, moving over toward the figure of Ben, who was still laying on his back on his own sleeping bag, now sporting a frown of confusion. When he saw what she was doing, however, the confusion started to dissipate.

The Lopunny anthro quickly huddled up against his prone form, laying her body alongside his, resting her head on the right side of his chest, ears strewn haphazardly in opposite directions. She reached across him with her right hand, resting it on his left side, her right leg moving up and over the top of his right leg, resting her knee on the inside of her thigh, cuddling closely up against him. Obviously, his invitation to use his sleeping bag had been taken as an invitation to join him. She looked up to him with a smile of gratitude. Even in the dim light, her eyes looked beautiful, sparkling with an internal illumination. He hadn't had this in mind, but he couldn't possibly turn her down when she was looking at him like that.

"Pull mine over us like a blanket," she whispered to him quietly, still staring up at him with that adorable look. He blinked, turning his attention to the sleeping bag in question, and reached last her with his left arm, grabbing it and doing as he was instructed. Once they were both sufficiently covered, he refocused his gaze on her, then faltered it slightly to the side at his right arm. His right hand was resting along the ground. He hesitated only for a second before bending his arm at the elbow, placing his hand on the area between her left side and back, pulling her closer to him and holding her loosely.

"Better?" He asked her, looking to her for a few seconds before turning his gaze up toward the top of their translucent tent. She was still looking up at his chiseled features, scanning his face before closing her eyes and snuggling her cheek into his bare chest, the thin, short fur on her face rubbing against his skin. "Much better," she contested somewhat dreamily, and Ben couldn't help but think that it wasn't just the warmth to which she was referring. The temperature, however, was certainly higher for the both of them with this new arrangement. Their bodies have off heat like radiators, fueling one another before feeding back to the first and keeping them both toasty, the covering blanket locking it all in place. Ben could smell Delaney's hair, which was very aromatic considering how long it had been since their conjoined shower- she still smelled strongly of the shampoo they had used.

An hour passed, and Ben could do nothing but stare up through the somewhat solid barrier created by their tent and up at the cloudy night above. Usually, he would have lost himself in his thoughts, but because he was so tired, and yet he couldn't sleep, the time just seemed to get away from him without him a happy having any coherent thoughts. He was just in a perfectly relaxed state, his mind and body content with just shutting down. He occupied himself with listening to the rhythmic pattern of his partner's breathing, the feeling of her chest inflating as she breathed in, pushing lightly into his side. A small smile crept onto his lips.

Some more time passed, and he closed his eyes, but still found that he couldn't quite drift off. Maybe there was just too much on his mind. He remained still until the sound of a soft, gentle voice got his attention: "Ben... Are you asleep?" There was a pause before he opened his eyes, turning his head down to see the anthro looking up at him again. "No," he admitted quietly to her, staring back into her eyes. "What's up?" He was curious to see what she considered to be worth potentially waking him up for.

"I'm still a little cold," she informed him, which made Ben's brow turn downward in a frown. She was giving off enough heat that he was on the verge of being uncomfortable because of it; how could she possibly still be cold? Was she not retaining any of the energy she was producing? "Really," he questioned in mild disbelief. Her fur moved up and down along his skin as she nodded. "We don't have anything else we could use to warm up with," he told her, scanning the inside of the tent while doing a mental inventory of what all they had brought with them. With the exception of putting on layers of clothes, there wasn't anything. And surely she had thought of that already.

"Well..." She began, turning her head to put her head parallel with his shoulders, thus looking away from him. Her right thumb made a slow back and forth motion over the muscle of Ben's left pectoral. "There is something else we could do." Ben continued to watch her, having noticed a slight shift in her manner. She seemed a lot more awake and thoughtful with each word that she was picking up, and he felt like he might be missing something. "Oh?" His question was obvious: _what?_

There was a pause where nothing changed, and she continued what she was doing, and then she started to move her right hand down and along his left side. The incredibly short hair on her hands and fingers made him increasingly perceptive of where her hand was on him, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up as she ran it gradually inward and to his stomach. Right above his waistband, she started rubbing his abs back and forth as she had his chest with her thumb. While she did this, she asked: "Have you ever heard the expression, 'hotter than screwing a Lopunny in a wool sock'?" Ben's Adam's apple bobbed in a swallow. "We have an expression somewhat similar to that where I come from," he told her.

Delaney smiled mischievously, scooting up Ben's body somewhat and raising her head off of him, placing her lips beside his ear. "Was it: 'Let's fuck like rabbits'?" she asked in a filthy tone, using a term that she had heard one of the humans in her village say previously. Ben blushed as Delaney's tongue suddenly began to push his ear lobe around, closing his eyes as her teeth closed around it. Her right hand disappeared down beneath the waistband of his boxers and sleeping shorts, moving down over his left thigh with splayed fingers, and then gave a brief squeeze.

Ben was right:

It was going to be a long night.

 **It's probably short, but I like to get a little bit of hype going before I release something dirty. Make sure you keep your eye out for chapter updates!**

 **Arthenius**


	21. (Half-Smut) Stoking the Embers

**So, as I write this, I realize that it feels awkward when I transition from the passive to the active portions of this chapter, and if you notice it then I'd like to apologize in advance for that.**

A chorus of Kricketunes and Kricketots far off in the distance seemed to serenade the creatures of the night; those of whom were still among the world of the waking, anyway. The forest was remarkably dead. Despite the time of night, there could usually be heard some feral Pokemon wandering about in the brush, something. Outside of the tent, contrarily, there was nothing but the soft symphony of the bug types.

Inside of the tent was a different story.

Ben was slowly coming to accept that fact that there was little to no thorn that he could do to fend off the Normal-type's advances. She could tell him anything that she wanted about how the ancient Prophecy had foretold of his unrivaled strength, but in every application other than on paper, what she could tell him was certainly incorrect. Their little scrap they had had the day prior was more than enough proof of that; he didn't stand even the smallest amount of a chance against her. She was surprisingly and perhaps frighteningly powerful even if she did look innocent, feminine, voluptuous, beautiful...

In fact, was there anything wrong with the way that she was acting toward him? Why was he bothering to consider defending himself against her sexual advances? All in all, she was a near perfect partner to have: she was incredibly physically attractive, had a libido as high as his, an obvious abundance of experience, an upbeat, bubbly personality that oozed an optimism that reeked of naiveté, yet somehow an underlying accent of maturity that surpassed her wisdom in years. Ben never really had considered what his 'dream girl' was, but this rabbit certainly seemed to be an embodiment of a lot of the qualities that, if a description was to be pulled from his brain without filter, Ben would place on a pedestal.

He hadn't known the girl for terribly long, but out of all the things in this new world, this new life he had been thrust into against his will, she was the most consistent point, the longest-sustained variable. And it wasn't as though she was going anywhere any time soon; for better or for worse, she didn't have anywhere that she could go to any longer, now that her village had been destroyed.

Which, upon further consideration, could be one of the reasons that she seemed to find Ben to be worth going after. He had become he only constant in her life, just as she had him. Maybe she considered him to be a tether to the life that she once had, a shred of an existence that had been trampled under the foot of a stampede of Pokemon reminiscent of dinosaurs that she could hang onto.

So perhaps, granted for what could be the wrong reasons, the two were falling for one another. And why not? They were perfectly compatible, as Ben had reasoned not too terribly long ago; it was evident in the chemistry of their interactions. It wasn't always obvious, as such a connection would be nothing but superficial; no relationship is perfect always. Such compatibility is fake, a display fabricated by one with the intent to demonstrate to the other a link that isn't there. No, rather, in their passing conversations, the way that they looked at one another, the that it felt when their bodies touched.

Ben had never been much of one for any sort of relationship that delved much above the purely physical, but he had to assume that if he were to love, this would be what it felt like. Perhaps, yea, he did love that rabbit.

This, all, was the perception Ben had of their relationship, the thoughts he had about the two of them when he was left alone with nothing but said thoughts. However, as the night that would prove to be as long and hard as Ben was starting to get, the human male didn't exactly have the energy to afford any power to a thought process. Instead, he was directing it all to not biting his tongue as he tried to respond to the bunny girl.

"S-something like that," he responded quietly. A muffled giggle came from the girl whose mouth was directly beside his ear, clutching his earlobe still between her teeth, and then shortly thereafter released it. Ben couldn't see it, but Delaney had a small smile drawn across her plump lips. "I love seeing you all nervous and squirmy," she whispered, burying her face in the side of his neck. She nuzzled said furry face into his skin. "It makes me want you even more," she continued quietly, then started giggling again. Ben's hand opened and closed uncomfortably on top of the anthro's body, and he licked his lips silently. Her knee rubbed up and down along the inside of Ben's thigh, pushing the right leg of his shorts and boxers up along his leg and up to his crotch, exposing the skin of his thigh for her to continue to admire with her knee.

Soft, gentle kisses against the side of Ben's neck made him open his eyes, looking out of the corners of them to see what she was doing. He could see nothing, obviously, other than her right ear, which was draped along the back of her head and over the top of her hair. He moved his free left hand down along his body to where her right was, also slipping it under his waistband to place it on top of hers so that he would be able to move it away. "So anxious to get to the fun, are we?" Ben's hand froze where it was, encompassing all of Delaney's smaller one. She had obviously misinterpreted his intention, or she knew what he meant and was choosing to tease him anyway. The latter, he decided, was much more likely. "All right, if you insist."

With Ben's hand on top of it, Delaney's hand moved over and inward toward her, over the top of his eagerly awaiting manhood, which had involuntarily started to harden in anticipation of what she was going to do. A sexually charged purr of approval was elicited from the Lopunny Anthro as she discovered this. "So easily excitable," she teased him quietly, before placing another kiss to the tender flesh on the side of his neck. The face of her counterpart flushed, and he admitted in a guilty tone that he had secretly been hoping that something similar to this would happen. Ben felt the bunny's lips turn upward in a smile against his skin after he came clean to her.

The fire popped once, audibly.

 **I know you guys were expecting smut. But. I can't focus enough to finish this chapter yet, and there's an actual plot point somewhere in there, so I figured I should divide what I was thinking would be one chapter into two. Still working on the rest of the smut, so expect that to come out somewhat soon.**

 **Also: I STILL CANT SEE ANY FUCKING REVEIEWS FOR SOME REASON AND ITS REALLY STARTING TO PISS ME OFF. If anyone can PM me the most recent 8 reviews to the story, I'd appreciate it. And until I can resolve this issue, please PM me your reviews instead. It honestly makes my day to see that you guys care enough to say something.**

 **Arthenius**


	22. Staying Cool in the Cold

**My fellow Arthenians,**

 **So I'm finally rediscovering the drive to write, but I'm experiencing an almost equivalent decrease in time I have available to write in.**

 **This chapter isn't going to be the smut that I promised it to be, and for that I apologize, but you're going to just have to bear with me here. I think this is going to be the last update to anything else I do before I finish off GGP, then I plan to do a chapter or two on JNS and then I'll be back to this one. If you aren't already a reader of my other stories, I strongly encourage it.**

 **Without further ado, here are some words and sentences.**

With eyes tightly shut, not daring to open and face the world and the situation he was in, Ben cleared his throat loud enough to attract the attention of the lusting Pokemon who clung to him. The bunny-girl's ear flicked once in what could have possibly been annoyance, and she turned her face toward his, head tilting to the side slightly. "Yes?" she prompted him innocently, as though nothing were out of the ordinary (which, Ben supposed, it wasn't; not for her, anyway).

The male stared at the backs of his eyelids for what felt like an eternity, gathering his courage, before taking a deep breath and looking to her. As he found those big, beautiful eyes with his own, her hair a little messy from having been in bed for a while, he was briefly paralyzed by her beauty, incapable of doing anything other than simply absorbing the sight, absorbing her.

The Lopunny repeated herself and Ben snapped back into reality, blinking twice before managing to choke out a few words. "D-Delaney," he began at length, all to conscious of the position that he was in, all to distracted by the gentle tickling feeling that the short fur on her hand gave him as she moved it down his shaft, cradling his balls delicately in her open hand. Ben had long since drawn his hand back, digging his fingernails into his palm in an effort to prevent the excited twitchings of his dick from advancing into a full-blown hard-on. "I've been thinking-"

"Oh?" She cut him off with a smirk, tilting her head to the side. She then rested her head down on his shoulder where she could still watch his facial expressions and show that he had her full attention. "That's a new one for you, isn't it...?" She giggled to herself, clearly pleased with her own joke. Ben's stomach churned as her digits slowly began massaging his peach.

Ben swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yeah... I was thinking about you, abou-" Delaney squeezed her hand closed slightly, enough to make him jump and feel uncomfortable but not enough to hurt him. The last part of the word 'about' escaped him, he incapable of getting it out because of this. More giggles. He tried again. "About us."

At this, Delaney's ear twitched once and then perked, as though it was fully at attention and not wanting to miss a thing, but her facial expression didn't match; she was still looking at him with that dreamy, spacey sort of look as though she was focused more on what was going on in her head as opposed to outside of it. Her smile may have widened a little... Was that blush on her cheeks?

Uninterrupted, Ben continued: "I know that we haven't known each other for very long, and I'm really grateful that you've been so supportive and helpful. I have the strange feeling that somehow I'm partially responsible for what happened in your village, and I think you do too, but you haven't blamed me even a little and I'm grateful for that as well." He paused, just watching her. She was watching him too. She wasn't tuning him out; she was listening completely and entirely, that much was evident.

"And, uh," he went on, with word-searching pauses every so often. "This could have been a really terrifying experience for me, and while we may not have figured out why I'm here or how I can get back home, but all things considered, I haven't had as much fun as I'm having with you in a long time. I think that, uh," he cleared his throat, adjusting the way that he was laying in obvious discomfort. "I think that I really like you." He concluded with that, biting down on his bottom lip and watching her closely as he awaited her reply.

He didn't have to wait long, however; almost immediately she responded with a quiet giggle, she retracting her hand from his pants and draping it back across him, cuddling against him as though she hadn't just been feeling him up. "That's very nice of you," she said sweetly, nuzzling her face into his shoulder. Her ears were now dropped back down in their usual lackadaisical manner, she the complete mirror opposite of his tense, anxious state: she looked remarkably comfortable and at peace.

Ben, however, was very confused and potentially a little offended. 'That's very nice of you,' she said. He had just opened himself up to her, feeling that there was a connection between the two of them, and that was how she responds to him? 'That's very nice of you'? The condescending nature of the comment alone was enough to drive him insane, as it was the same sort of reply that he would give a little kid who said something similar.

Ben frowned.

A little kid... He recalled his meeting with Lily, who was so small and innocent and had turned out to be multiple times his age over. If her village had been so respectful of her, treating her as their leader and guide, was it possible that she was considerably older than he was? He didn't see why not, and the idea suddenly became increasingly plausible to him. He closed his eyes, imagining how stupid it must have sounded to her.

He heaved a heavy sigh, opening his eyes then to look to his companion. Her hazel hues had closed, and she had become still other than the steady, rhythmic cycle of her breathing. Her nose twitched slightly as she slept, and Ben couldn't help but smile at how adorable it was. He refused to believe that she could possibly be older than the Buneary that he had met, and decided that he would ask her her age in the morning.

He pulled the girl closer to him, who made a sleepy, squeaking sort of yawn and snuggled more tightly against him. She may not have had feelings for him, but he still enjoyed the moment, their embrace. As he closed his eyes and began drifting off to sleep, he told himself that his lover was in his arms and that everything would be alright.

What's the harm in pretending for one night, after all.

 **Uh.**

 **I don't remember writing any of this. I got blackout drunk last night and woke up with this in the notes section of my phone. It LOOKS okay to me, but I'm sure it's not? Tell me if something is wrong here and I'll fix it.**

 **Arthenius**


	23. Yet another update

Joyful nights saga has been updated; Gardevoir Gets Pushy should be the next update, followed by Zoroark the Seductress.


	24. Announcement!

**My fellow Arthenians,**

 **I've got my schedule officially worked out, and I should be able to return to uploading at a regular interval starting in July. I recognize that July is quite far away as it stands, and with the Oompa Loompa running America, we might not make it that long without being aggressively bombed to shit in a thermonuclear war. Because of this, I figured I'd let you guys know what's going on, and that I might as well crank out something short.**

 **There's a new update on my other story, Joyful Nights Saga. Check it out!**


	25. I'm back!

My fellow Arthenians,

Just a brief update here to let you know what's going on. I've been a high school graduate for... shit, I don't know, like two weeks or something. Anyway, i'm moving into my college dorm in four days and I'll henceforth have my own laptop on which I can do my composition, so I should be able to write a lot more a lot quicker. I don't know how my schedule is going to look yet, but I'm assuming I should be able to find a way to return to regular updates.

Speaking of updates, as it stands and prone to change, I'm looking to do one more chapter of JNS and then I think i'll finish up GGP. I'm going to have to go back through and study all of ZTS again because it's honestly been so long that i've forgotten character motivations and personality idiosyncrasies, but once I get some work done on the other two I should be able to return to that as well.

I look forward to creating more content for you guys from here on out, and I hope that the feelings of excitement are as overwhelming for y'all as they are for me. As a form of celebration, I'm looking to adopt a fourth story, likely straying outside of the lines a bit and writing for a different game/series. I'm thinking perhaps One Punch Man, Smite (a mythological based game, highly recommend it), Super Smash Bros., Zelda, or Fallout. Except for the last two, I'd likely keep all characters canonical as best I can, but I'd end up taking creative liberties with the latter two and doing something open world and AU (like a Smash Mansion sort of thing).

That's all from me for the time being. Like, subscribe, and all that stuff, and I'll talk to you guys in the next one.

Arthenius


	26. Another announcement

Hey guys, just a quick note or two for you. I'm officially moved into my dorm for the summer, and I'm celebrating by making a new Wonder Woman Fanfiction. This shouldn't affect the upload speeds of my other stories, however. I should still be able to make a somewhat decent schedule to abide by. Please drop by my page and give Woman of Wonder some love!


	27. Learning Pokemon Moves!

Taking a deep breath and slowly pulling his conscious brain from his slumber, Ben tightly shut his eyes in an attempt to stave off the light that he could detect even through his closed eyes. It was obviously morning—well, it was daylight at the very least. It could have been three in the afternoon for all he knew. It wasn't like he had any way that he could quickly check the time; he would have to gauge an approximation based on the position of the sun.

The male pulled his arm toward him to draw his companion nearer to him so he could squeeze every second out of their embrace that he could, only to find that he had already lost that opportunity. His eyes opened, blinking in the daytime sun to see that the bunny girl had already gotten up, and she had even tucked him into her own sleeping bag after she had done so. Had he really been sleeping that deeply that he hadn't even woken up when she got up?

He resolved to sit up, rubbing at his right eye with the back of his right hand, another deep breath entering him and being released in a sigh. He looked out through the open tent flap to see that the fire was out, the spit was gone, and their bags were neatly packed and piled together just inside of his field of view from inside the tent. Evidently Delaney had been up long before him, and was eager to get back on the road and get on with their journey.

Now almost fully awake, Ben decided that his desires were obviously not possible. He couldn't just sit around in the forest with Delaney and pretend that he didn't have any responsibilities… could he? A frown set into his face, and he adjusted his posture slightly, staring at the ground. What actually would happen if he just decided that No, he didn't want to take any part in any of this Prophecy bullshit and he just wanted to relax in this new world? Was saying screw it and settling down somewhere a possibility, or would there be some kind of repercussion if he were to try?

"Oh, you're awake! Good morning," came a voice that brought him back from his thoughts. He looked up to see that Delaney was indeed fully dressed and appeared to have been awake for quite some time, considering that she didn't have the same grogginess about her that Ben did about him. In fact, she was instead presenting herself in the same bubbly and upbeat manner that he had grown not only accustomed to but also rather fond of. It made him think about the previous night, and the uncomfortable exchange that they had shared. He wondered if she would bring it up, or if she was just going to pretend like nothing had ever even happened.

"Yeah, I just got up as a matter of fact." He looked at her briefly before crawling out of the tent and stretching his arms and legs. The first stretch of the morning always felt heavenly. "I didn't even wake up when you got up, I must have been so tired. Either that or you're just a much better morning person than I am," he said with a smile, turning his head in either direction and receiving a satisfying crack each time. He looked back to her then, noticing that she was wearing essentially the same that that she had been the previous day except the color scheme had changed to black and a light blue. She looked good. "You look good," he repeated the thought aloud to her, smiling sheepishly.

She smiled somewhat pridefully and ran her hand down her left ear quickly. "Thanks! You look…" she trailed off, and then giggled quietly and gestured to him with one hand. "You look underdressed. Put some clothes on, I want to do some more training with you before we get going. I wanted to let you sleep, but we're actually a little behind the schedule that I had planned for today."

Ben nodded. He had sort of figured that the whole training thing wasn't just going to be a one time occurrence, and that he would have to endure whatever physical challenge she put him through once more. He was a little upset that he was forced to do so multiple days in a row, and he assumed that it was going to become a daily activity for them.

"Why do you get to make the schedules? I'm the fulfillment of the Prophecy, remember?" He drenched his words in sarcasm to make sure that she knew that he wasn't just getting full of himself. He went over to his bag and began rifling through it, pulling out another pair of shorts and a tee shirt. "I don't know, I just figure the least that you could do is run it by me," he said in a somewhat quieter, somewhat muttering voice as he stripped his shorts off and began putting on the next day's clothes. He left his underwear on, because…well, frankly, he didn't feel comfortable changing them in the middle of the woods where anyone could just walk by and see him on full display.

Delaney's hands had found her hips, and she cocked her head to the side as she listened to him, watching him dress. "Is that so, Mister Big-Shot?" Obviously she hadn't taken too well to his comments. "Well maybe I just figure that because it's my people who know a lot more about how grand and great the chosen hero would be, and oh I don't know, maybe what exactly you need to do to actually _fulfill_ the prophecy, that I should be the one making the plan to get to that end goal. Maybe _I_ just figured that the least that you could do is say 'thank you' for saving your ass."

Ben blinked, letting his shirt fall down along his body after having finished putting it on. "Look, Delaney, I didn't mean it like that." He frowned, walking over to where he was within a foot from her. She was still visibly upset and essentially glaring at him. Ben wanted to step into her and hug her, but he didn't think that it would be received too well. The timing just didn't seem right for him to embrace her quite like that. Instead, he just reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate you or what you've done for me, because I really do, honestly. I just…" He paused, searching for words. "I don't know. I've been feeling really small lately, like I'm just some pawn in a game of chess so big that I can't even see it going on. I've pretty much just been pushed along this whole conquest without much of a say in what's happening. It feels like everything is out of my control." Delaney's expression seemed to soften. Her posture relaxed, and she took her hands off of her hips.

A second or two passed and then she sighed and stepped toward him, her arms encircling him and pulling him into a loose hug. He gratefully returned the gesture, hugging her back a little tighter than she was. "I'm sorry. I guess I overreacted a bit," she said thoughtfully, mulling over what he had said. "I know that you don't feel like you're important now, but I promise you're not just some pawn." She pulled back to look at him. He somewhat disappointedly loosened his grp on her to do the same. "You're a queen," she said earnestly, squeezing his arms softly to emphasize what she had said. Ben frowned. Delaney looked at his expression then also frowned as she realized what she had just said. "That didn't come out right. I just meant to say that you're-"

"The most powerful piece on the board, yeah. I got it," Ben cut into her sentence, laughing and moving away from her in the direction of the tent. "That was not the most well thought out analogy, but I know what you mean," he said, looking back at her with a grin as he began breaking down the tent. She smiled and followed him over, beginning to roll up the sleeping bags. Ben paused in his deconstruction of the tent, turning his attention back to the Lopunny Anthro.

"In all seriousness though, Delaney," he said, getting her attention and causing her to pause in her own task. "Thanks for believing in me so much. It really means a lot to me, knowing that you have faith in me. Maybe even more faith than I have in myself." She looked him over, searching his eyes for a second before smiling and returning to rolling up the sleeping bags.

They finished packing up the camp site in cooperative silence, each left to their own thoughts. Once everything was ready to go, Delaney announced that it was then time for them to begin their next training session. From the position of the sun, Ben estimated that it was somewhere after noon by that point, but not too far past; maybe one or two at the very latest.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have to actually teach you myself," Delaney admitted as she adopted a fighting stance a few feet away from Ben, who had already readied himself up. He had no intentions of getting his ass beat again. He had to be strong. There would certainly be dangers along the way, and he had to be able to face them head-on.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you obviously have some kind of encyclopedia in your head that's been telling you about all of the different Pokemon that the world has to offer. I was hoping that your fighting instincts would be similarly latent knowledge." Ben thought this over. It did make sense; he had the information that he needed to be successful on his quest, so why not the skills as well? "But, based on the way that I kicked your sorry ass across the ground last time," Delaney continued with a grin, bouncing from foot to foot athletically, "I figure I'm going to have to teach you how to access some of that power."

Ben's eyebrows raised. "Power? What do you mean?" Delaney looked at him in confusion, and slowly began to bring herself to a stop, no longer shifting her weight between her feet in preparation for a strike. She began to wish that she had gone over this with him while they were walking the previous day, when they had ample time to do so and it wouldn't delay their training.

"Well, as I'm sure that you're aware, Pokemon have certain special powers unique to their type, their species, or both." A nod of confirmation. "Well, it is said that the chosen one is supposed to bridge the gap between the two species." A blank stare. "You're supposed to be able to do the same thing," she painstakingly explained, to the surprise of her companion.

"Wait, what? Really? Like I'm supposed to be able to fly and breathe fire?" Ben grinned in excitement. Visions of him as a superhero flashed through his head. It probably would have made six year old him have a heart attack if he had found out that one day he was going to have superpowers, which is essentially what Ben heard when Delaney just explained it to him.

"What? No. Well. Not exactly." Delaney frowned. "Probably not yet, anyway." That took the wind out of Ben's sails, which Delaney noticed and tried to cheer him up. "I said 'not yet,' not 'never,' Ben. I'm guessing that you're going to have to have someone teach you everything that you have the capability of doing. As a normal type, and a Lopunny at that, I'm not really the one to teach you about the things that you just mentioned. I can't do either of those myself. I _can_ , however, teach you some moves of my own."

Ben, admittedly a little disappointed that he was only going to get to learn normal type abilities, which seemed pretty basic and unimpressive comparatively, nodded his understanding. He supposed that it would be better than nothing, and beggars can't be choosers. "Alright, so what do you got for me, then?" he asked curiously, a bit of the enthusiasm returning to his voice. If he was going to learn from someone, he supposed that the girl that he might possibly be in love with wasn't a bad place to start.

Delaney thought about this for a second. "Well, considering it's your first time learning any ability at all, we should start with the basics." She took another pause to decide what 'the basics' actually were, and then began naming them off and raising a finger to indicate each. "Pound, Tackle, and if you can get a hold on those two, then Quick Attack." The bunny girl nodded to herself in satisfaction.

"Pound, Tackle, and Quick Attack, huh?" Ben repeated, committing those terms to memory. "Seems pretty self-explanatory, doesn't it? I mean, I've tackled you before. Was I doing it right then? Why don't I just repeat that?"

Delaney laughed, shaking her head. "Well, considering not only you didn't know what you were doing but also you didn't even manage to move me, I'd have to say that no, you probably weren't doing it right, Ben." She seemed amused by the look of slightly irritated embarrassment that was making. "Don't worry, Killer, we'll get there. It's going to take some time, though, and it's probably going to be difficult for you. Can you promise me that you won't give up?" Ben nodded. "Alright. Get in a defensive stance, and I'll show you my Pound attack, and then you can try to mirror it."

Ben did as he was told, bracing himself for what he assumed was going to be a punch that hurt like hell. Delaney drew close to him, looking up to him for a second to make sure that he was still okay with trying this, and then she pulled her arm back for what looked like a haymaker. Then she paused, and looked back up at him. "By the way," she said casually, "where did that map come from?" Ben froze. He had forgotten all about the Zoroark that he had met. What had happened to them? They had said that they would be watching him. Were they watching right now?

Unaware of how distracted and unfocused Ben was, Delaney unleashed Pound into his chest.


	28. Delaney Explains Everything

As soon as her fist impacted Ben's chest, displacing the energy that Delaney had mustered prior to using the move, transferring it into Ben in an explosive display of brute force, it felt to Ben as though all of the air had been removed from his body at once. Time seemed to slow down, and from the point of impact and slowly outward and down along his body and each of his extremities, Ben could swear that he felt a ripple move across him, the very skin on his body moving in a wave as the sheer power of the strike shook his body. His eyes, wide and incredulous, were staring at a point that only he could see as his feet left the ground, following the core mass of his body backward and toward the treeline behind him.

He flew for several feet, still incapable of drawing a breath, until he impacted the ground and skidded backward a bit, leaving a trail in the dirt with his ass. It couldn't have elapsed more than a second, maybe two at the very longest, but it felt like an eternity before his momentum was stopped and he found himself on his back. His eyes had turned upward to the sky, and he, at last, drew in a deep breath to satisfy his lungs that had been deprived of air for what could have been ages. Surely a strike as powerful as the one he had just received should have been enough to crack his sternum, completely remove it from the rest of his bone structure, or at the very least give him some incredible bruising. There was no way that he should have been capable of any sort of movement after enduring such a shot, much lesshave the power to immediately sit up. And yet, as he lay there, collecting himself physically and mentally, he felt like he could get up that very moment and get back to fighting. There wasn't even much pain associated with it, so much as just a numb soreness that he was experiencing.

After a few seconds, Delaney entered his field of vision, and he shifted his gaze from the cloud at which he had been looking to her puzzled expression. She didn't say anything, nor did he, for a few seconds, and then finally she broke the silence, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at him. "You didn't even try to block it. I wasn't really expecting that…" Her head turned to the side a little, and she looked overhis facial expression, which was somewhat blank and spacey, like he was thinking about something.

"Yeah, you caught me kinda off guard that time. When you mentioned the map it made me think of something, and I zoned out when you delivered that punch. Err, well, Pound, anyay." He smiled sheepishly and slowly sat up, at which point Delaney backed up a step or two to give him some space. Ben's hands came to his chest at around the impact zone, tenderly touching at it, expecting it to be incredibly sore, but as it happened he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. In fact, as far as he knew, there was no indication that he had just taken such a huge hit. He looked up to Delaney, confused. "So if you hit me way harder than I've ever been hit before, why am I not feeling it?" His confusion was matched by Delaney, and he went on to try to explain what he meant. "I didn't think it was possible for anyone to throw a punch that hard. It shouldn't be possible, at least. I should be dead. That shit could have stopped my heart. And I don't even feel any bruising, no soreness, nothing. What's going on?"

Delaney scratched behind one of her ears, and then rolled her shoulders and sighed. "Well, again, this is something that I had expected you to already know. Maybe I shouldn't have so much faith in your knowledge of my world after all, because you seem to be coming up short on some pretty basic trivia points," she muttered only half to him, shaking her head. "looks like we're going to have to have another tutoring session before I can really start teaching you, because this is really important for you to know just in case things go south at some point."

Delaney licked her lips once before she began again, trying to discern how she could explain what to her was such a basic concept. "Well, you're right when you say that any ordinary punch that strong probably would have killed you. No normal punch could ever hit that hard, I'd have to guess, or else it would pretty much break the laws of physics. But that wasn't an ordinary punch. It was my Pound attack." She looked to him to see if this resonated with him, but disappointingly he didn't seem to have any sort of brainblast that would prevent her from having to explain any more. With a sigh, she continued. "I could never hit you that hard with a normal punch. But with the power that I can channel when I use Pound, I can strike you a lot more solidly, as you just saw."

The bunny girl gestured with her head for him to follow, and she began walking as she talked to her human companion. "I guess the best way to explain it is like this. Normal attacks, and that's normal with a lowercase n, as in just regular kicks and punches and things, will hit you differently than a special move or ability or power or whatever you want to call it will. Essentially, you body processes and handles the attacks differently. For example, you could punch a gengar in the mouth and really piss him off. But if you tried to Pound him, the attack would have no effect." She looked over to him and saw that what she had just said didn't make sense, grimacing. "Ghost types aren't affected by normal type attacks." She smirked. "You're gonna need flashcards or something of all the different type matchups," she muttered to herself, amused.

"The two go hand in hand," she went on, tilting her chin up as she thought. "Like, you couldn't sit there all day long and get wailed on by some kung-fu guy and then fire off a flamethrower at full power. Similarly, if you get pummeled by Close Combat until your eyes fall out, you're not going to be ready to run a marathon. You can be knocked out by Moves just as you could traditional punches, but under normal circumstances you can't be killed by them. No one knows why, but the religious tend to think that it's Arceus watching over us and preventing us from laying waste to one another."

She frowned, as though just remembering something. And obviously, you're not going to be able to just keep using Water Gun or any other Move indefinitely, either. There's a limited number of how many of Move you can use before you need to rest, just like you could only run so hard so far without getting tired and needing a break. Higher intensity Moves like a Hyper Beam can only be used sparingly, however more basic ones like Pound you can use more liberally." She paused, both in speech and in walking, turning to look at him. "Does all that make sense to you?"

Ben was so entranced by the prospect of learning the way of the world from her that he had become completely laser-focused on the sound of her voice, soaking in every word and committing it all to memory so he would never forget it, hoping that eventually it would all just become second nature to him. When she stopped, he was staring at the ground intently, following in her footsteps closely enough that he bumped into her from behind, blinking a few times as he stepped back and nodded. "Yeah, I think so," he said with a smile. "Shit, I wish I had been taking notes. That was a hell of an explanation, Delaney."

She smiled back, blushing a little. "Thanks."

Ben nodded. "Almost like the author was too lazy to demonstrate all of that and sacrificed almost all of your personality along with any sort of reasonable continuity just to have you spit it all onto the page for him."

Delaney frowned. "What did you just say?"

Ben frowned as well, puzzled. "What do you mean? I said thanks for the explanation."

"No, after that. You were just… you know what, never mind. Let's just get back to training," she said, laughing to herself as she headed back in the direction from which they had come.

"Uh. Alright, weirdo," he returned, falling into stride beside her.


	29. Merry Christmas

I had this long and heartfelt message for toy fuys but the site isn't letting me upload it and I'm too drunk to fnd out way, so merrcyh Christmas and Happy Hoplidays from your favorite smut writer. Except more chapter s soon!

Arthnius


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